How the vote of young Latinos helped stem the Republican red wave across the United States

There was no Republican red wave in the midterm elections on November 8 in the United States. The Senate remains in the hands of the Democratic Party and the House of Representatives is still in contention and a very close final result is forecast. Much of this outcome came about because of the Latino vote, which was overwhelmingly Democratic, especially among the young.

An NBC News exit poll found that 68% of Latinos under the age of 30 who voted for a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives, although only 43% of them identify as Democrats. While 30% of young Hispanic voters opted for a Republican candidate.

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37% of young Latino voters said they were independent and 20% Republican. In addition, 41% of young Latino voters said they identify as liberal, while 34% moderate and 25% as conservative.

On his side, he Center for Information and Research on Civic Engagement and Learning (CIRCLE) of Tufts University, which studies young voters, found that young Latino voters under 30, along with young black voters, showed greater support for Democrats on Election Day compared to young white voters. . 68% of Latino youth and 89% of Black youth supported a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives. Among young white voters, the vote was 58% for Democrats, NBC News reported.

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“In close races, the big margins of young people, of Black youth, of Latino youth, can be really influential. Sometimes they can even be decisive.”Alberto Medina, CIRCLE’s head of communications, told NBC News. “They can really put a candidate on top or keep them in the race,” he added.

This is how the United States Congress is staying. (AFP).

NBC News cited Senate races in key western states like Nevada and Arizona, where Latino youth represent 40% of all newly eligible voters in the region. These races in both states were ranked by CIRCLE as races where young voters could have the most impact.

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“The ranking of these two states is heavily influenced by the large presence of young Latino voters,” Medina pointed out.

In the two states mentioned above the Democrats won the election and thus secured control of the Senate.

Jamie Taylor, from Freedom, Ohio, casts his ballot during the midterm elections in the United States on November 8, 2022. (EFE/EPA/DAVID MAXWELL).

Don’t give up on the Democrats

In turn, the 2022 Mid-Term Election Voter Survey (MEVP), organized by the African American Research Collaborative (AARC), confirmed the aforementioned and revealed that Latinos are not leaving the Democratic Party in any significant wayaccording to Univision.

The poll, which sampled more than 12,000 voters of all ethnicities, including 5,400 Latino voters in 11 states—including Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Nevada—revealed that nearly two-thirds of Latino voters supported Democratic candidates nationwide. national, reported Univisión.

“Overall, this election was consistent with historical voting patterns for Hispanics, with two thirds of Latinos supporting the Democrats and one third the Republicans”, said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, vice president of the Latino vote initiative for UnidosUS, one of the organizations that sponsored the poll.

Univision also specifies that Republicans have gained some ground among Latinos due, in large part, to inflation but also due to the lack of communication between Democrats and Hispanics.

A voter receives a receipt from a clerk after delivering their ballot for the midterm elections at a polling place in Kissimmee, Florida, on November 8, 2022. (Gregg Newton / AFP)

Topics that interest Latinos

Based on the survey of African American Research Collaborative (AARC)the EFE news agency reported that Latinos support policies such as the reduction in drug prices contemplated in the new Inflation Reduction Act, the right to abortion, immigration reform and the cancellation of university debt. In addition, 64% of Latinos surveyed approve of the president’s management Joe Biden.

The survey claims that only in the state of Florida was the Latino vote a majority for the republicansin the rest of the country the majority of Hispanics chose to support the candidates of the party of Biden.

Supporters of Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis applaud as they watch the election results live. (Giorgio VIERA / AFP).

One of the reasons that most influenced the vote of Hispanics who supported the Democrats was the views on migration from both partiesafter a campaign in which immigration was a weapon used by the Republican Party against President Biden.

“They always do the same thing, they engage in attacks against immigrants to try to make that the central point of the elections (…) but they have failed again,” said Sergio Gonzales, director of the Immigration Hub organization, according to EFE.

Gonzales highlighted some of the top requests from Latinos reflected in the survey, including that Congress guarantee a permanent solution for the hundreds of thousands of migrants temporarily protected by the DACA immigration program.

Since 2012, DACA has offered work authorization and protection from deportation to young immigrants who came to the United States as children.

“Democrats have to keep their promises and their campaign commitments to protect dreamers (dreamers)”he highlighted when referring to DACA recipients.

82% of Latino voters, according to the survey, want Congress to immediately adopt protection for Dreamers.

In addition, 71% agree with the statement that there is a need for a “humane, orderly and functional” immigration system that removes unnecessary barriers for workers who want to contribute, that there is a path to citizenship for immigrants and a secure border and orderly.”

Source: Elcomercio