While more Latinos say Democrats work harder to win their votes than Republicans, about half of them don’t see a “big difference” in what the two political parties stand for, a new poll shows.
A recent Pew Research Center survey looks at the political views of Latinos and the issues they consider most important in midterm elections.
The survey was conducted in August among a randomly selected sample of 3,029 Latino adults, the institute said.
Overall, 71% of respondents said the statement that the Democratic Party “strives to win” Latino votes accurately describes their views, compared with 45% of Latinos who said the same about the Republican Party, from according to the survey.
A significant portion – between 42% and 48% – of respondents in certain groups said the statement “Democrats are working hard to win Latino votes” describes their views very well or extremely well. These groups included immigrants, Latinos proficient in Spanish, Catholics and Evangelical Protestants, as well as Latinos aged 50 to 64 and those aged 65 and over, the survey shows.
Most of them, according to the poll, have a positive view of Democrats, but about a third of respondents said they don’t believe the Democratic Party represents their interests or really cares about Latinos.
When asked for their opinion of Republicans, 63% of respondents said they don’t think the GOP really cares about Latinos, according to the poll.
The researchers also analyzed the family backgrounds of respondents and found that those who identify as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Central Americans and South Americans were more likely to say that Democrats represent their interests well than to say the same about Republicans. . Meanwhile, Cubans were divided in their assessment of Democrats and Republicans.
Since the 2020 election, the idea of an increase in the participation of Latino Republican voters has dominated the headlines, and Republican Mayra Flores’ victory in the special election for Texas’ 34th Congressional District in June has renewed interest in the topic.
But research shows that Latino party affiliation hasn’t changed significantly in recent years, said Jens Manuel Krogstad, senior writer and editor at the Pew Research Center and lead author of the report.
About 64% of registered voters in the group said they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party and 33% identify with the Republican Party. The researchers said previous studies by Pew Research have shown that Latino party affiliation has been stable since at least 2019.
Survey data shows that Latinos may not be completely off-limits to the GOP. Krogstad said Latinos “imperfectly fit into the nation’s polarized two-party system” and are “charting their own course in some ways.”
About half of Latinos don’t think there is a “big difference” between what the Democratic and Republican parties represent. Those with a high school education or less are more likely than those with at least a bachelor’s degree to say there is almost no difference between the parties, the researchers said.
Most respondents have positive opinions about the political party they are affiliated with, but some expressed favorable opinions about the opposing party.
About a third of Latino Republicans said they described their beliefs “at least a little well” in saying that Democrats genuinely care about Latinos. About 21% of Latino Democrats said the same about the Republican Party, according to the poll.
Abortion not key issue for nearly 60% of Latinos vote
Survey participants commented on their views on the midterm elections. Among those who declared themselves registered voters, only 30% said they had thought “a lot” about the election.
About half of registered Latino voters said they would vote or lean toward a Democratic candidate and 28% said they would vote for a Republican candidate. But about 18% said they would vote for another candidate or weren’t sure who they would vote for, the poll shows.
Registered voters have identified several issues that they consider important when making an election decision, but the economy is an important issue. At least 80% of respondents in this group said it is “very important,” according to the survey. This includes 90% of Latino Republicans and 75% of Latino Democrats.
Most of them identified health care, education and violent crime as other important issues for them, but abortion and gun policy would play a significant role in the group’s voting decisions, according to the poll.
The report’s authors said the importance of abortion has increased among Latinos who are registered to vote, from 42% to 57%. The shift is largely driven by Democrats of the same origin, according to the poll.
When asked about their voting decisions, a majority of registered Latino voters said they would probably or definitely not vote for a candidate who disagreed with them on abortion and gun policy, even if the candidate agreed with them on most other issues. 61% of registered Latinos to vote said the same about immigration and the economy, according to the poll.
A majority of 57% of respondents said abortion should be legal in at least some cases, and 73% of Latinos said controlling gun ownership is more important than protecting Americans’ right to own guns, according to the poll. .
Pew Research surveyed 3,029 Latin American adults August 1-14, using a nationally representative online panel. Results for the full sample of Latino respondents have a sampling error of +/- 2.7 percentage points.
Source: CNN Brasil
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