The Latino vote has long been thought to be “in the bag” for Hillary Clinton.
Since Trump’s announcement and his frank remarks against illegal immigration, the Republican candidate has been characterized by his opponent as a racist set on deportation squads and dividing families.
Even this close to the election, the narrative from Democrats is that Trump is the candidate who called all Mexicans rapists and criminals.
When the GOP send their candidates, they are not sending their best They’re racists, tax dodgers, p*grabbers but some I assume R good people pic.twitter.com/gcmBMghuyp
— 4ELEVEN – Josué (@4ELEVEN512) October 24, 2016
What the Donald actually said is that Mexico “isn’t sending us their best people” and that “some” were rapists, murderers, and drug pushers.
Still, he said enough to where his opponents — first in the Republican primary and later in the general election cycle — haven’t had to stretch it too far to create a backlash with the Latino vote.
But with polls tightening, and Real Clear Politics finding that Trump is well within the margin of error in all aggregated polls heading into the final weekend, it appears the Latino vote support that Clinton is depending on isn’t quite as strong as she would hope.
In fact, she may not even have majority support in the swing states that matter most, and according to BuzzFeed , members of the Latino vote have their own reasons for voting Trump.
A recent piece of aggregation from site contributor Gabriel H. Sanchez found that, contrary to popular belief, Trump has not turned off the Latino vote. Many have their reasons for casting a ballot in his favor.
Take Raul Rodriguez, Jr., of Apple Valley, Calif., for instance. The El Paso native is an Army veteran who actually agrees with Trump’s immigration stand in spite of having a father who migrated to the U.S. from Durango, Mexico.
He told BuzzFeed that he felt illegal immigrants didn’t deserve “any benefits at all,” noting, “these benefits should and must be given to help our veterans, help our homeless, and help our foster children before anyone in our country illegally.”
Marissa Desilets, a young woman living in Beverly Hills, Calif., wants the Latino vote to break Trump’s way for other reasons — because “we have to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and create a health care program following free market principles.”
“With Hillary Clinton as president of the United States, I expect the poor to become poorer and our country to become divided states under the brand of ‘equality’ with a neglect of ‘liberty,’” Desilets added.
Yet another Californian who is part of the Latino vote is Huntington Park’s Francisco Rivera, who states that Trump must be the next president because “Other countries protect their borders, why can’t we?”
“This is a country of immigrants, but do we want to be a country of legal or illegal immigrants? This is coming from a person who has been living in a Hispanic community for nearly 37 years,” he said.
The BuzzFeed piece is worth reading, not only because of the various reasons those in the Latino vote give for breaking for Trump, but also for their placement.
Most actually live in California rather than Trump/traditional Republican strongholds.
@FemalesForTrump I got life long dems to vote Trump we’re Latino and voted Trump pic.twitter.com/pELuIULfNm
— #MADE IN AMERICA (@GiordanSergio) November 4, 2016
While it is unlikely Trump secures most of the Latino vote — especially if you believe this poll from LatinoUSA that has him garnering just 15 percent of the demographic — he could cut down the number enough to influence a tight race, especially with African-American support for Clinton lagging.
But what do you think, readers?
Will the Latino vote end up in Trump’s favor, or will he at least be able to fray enough of Clinton’s lead to influence the outcome? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by Possum1500/Flickr Creative Commons/Resized and Cropped/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ]
