Of all the tidbits from Tuesday’s vote that appear to defy all logic, it’s this that’s perhaps the most staggering.
Latino voters, historically some of the most maligned in Donald Trump’s rally speeches and by his legislative agenda, seem to have shouldered a significant share of the responsibility for carrying the Republican president-elect to victory.
Early voting data suggests Trump enjoyed the support of 45 percent of Latino voters against Kamala Harris’ 53%, constituting a mind-boggling 25 percent swing in his favor among the demographic compared to his results in the run-off against Joe Biden in 2020.
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It also stands against the 33 percent loss he suffered four years ago on his 2016 results, potentially representing the most potent Republican performance among Latino voters in almost 20 years.
The swing is thought to have been largely driven by Latino men, who threw their backing behind Trump at an average of ten points over Harris.
As the fastest growing portion of the electorate, internal polling from the Democratic Party indicates this historically blue-leaning demographic has been steadily shifting toward the right in recent years.
Despite the racist, often even fascistic tone of Trump’s recent remarks, Axios reports that many Latino voters appear to share the president-elect’s concerns over the rate of undocumented migrants passing into the United States across the southern border.
It’s not a trend that has passed Republicans by, either.
Ted Cruz–the firebrand Texas senator who is himself Cuban American, and who successfully fought off his Democratic challenger Colin Allred in Tuesday’s polls–dedicated a sizable portion of his victory speech to Spanish-speaking voters who had backed his re-election bid.
“We are seeing tonight generational change in South Texas,” Cruz said on Tuesday. “This decisive victory should shake the Democrat establishment to its core.”
Sentiments, it seems, that would appear to have applied across the country as the presidential results came in over the following hours.
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