Voice of America photo via Wikimedia Commons
By Isabella Visbal | MediaLab@FAU
Nov 14, 2024
Last week it became apparent that Donald Trump would win the 2024 election and be given a ticket back to the White House. What his most optimistic campaign managers and ardent enthusiasts did not expect, however, was how many of his nearly 75 million voters would identify as Latino.
Surpassing Vice President Kamala Harris with over 270 electoral votes (it’s now 312) Trump declared victory during the wee hours of Nov. 6 over many key battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These were states in which the two candidates were neck and neck in numerous polls leading up to the elections, and projected results were inconclusive until the end.
Trump took over in Pennsylvania, one of the target states for the Harris campaign, by 134,301 votes. He received 42% of the Latino vote in the swing state, which was double the percentage that he received during the 2020 election, according to exit polls.
“I have no words. I feel embarrassed for the Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania that voted for him. They knew the potential they had, compared to every other state, to stand up for our community,” said Elizabeth Escalante, a 25-year-old Boca Raton resident of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.
Escalante, a Florida State University graduate who helps manage a local beauty salon, said she’s been a registered Democrat since she was old enough to vote. She believes that the majority of the Latino community leaned right because of promises Trump has made regarding the economy. Moreover, she said, Trump’s promotion of religious values speaks to Hispanic and Latino upbringings.
Many believe this is the reason he received an unexpected landslide of Latino votes. “Hispanics have largely favored Democrats for decades,” Reuters reported after the election, “but Trump's share this year was the highest for a Republican presidential candidate in exit polls going back to the 1970s, and just higher than the 44% share won by Republican George W. Bush in 2004.”
Since the election, it’s evident that the rest of the world had eyes on the United States, even those living in nations far away with little to no connection to the political environment within the country.
Carlos Pareja, a 55-year-old Colombian lawyer, shared his opinion regarding the results of the US presidential election, through a phone call directly from Cartagena, Colombia, where he’s lived his whole life.
“Let’s hope Trump can push America forward – I believe he can,” he said. “Let’s hope Colombia and the rest of the world can do well under his presidency.”
Regardless of Trump’s lack of involvement in that country’s politics, some Colombians believe his administration will be a bulwark against Communist party they fear is taking over Colombia. This mentality is adopted by other members of the Latino community, with the same trend becoming evident among Cubans.
“My vote for Trump was mainly based on the economy and inflation,” said Yoelis Gonzalez, a Cuban immigrant and owner of Premium Closets SF, a closet design company.
“As a conservative Cuban, I feel more comfortable with him, as a man, running the country since I already know what his policies look like since 2016,” Gonzalez added. “His administration saved my family from Cuba’s socialism.”
Gonzalez shared that he also voted against Amendments 3 and 4, which had proposed to legalize recreational marijuana and restore access to abortion through viability.
Trump particularly made gains with Hispanic men in comparison to the last general election. Trump won the support of 55% of Hispanic men – close to 20% more than he garnered in that sector four years ago – according to Reuters, whose numbers are based on Edison Research. reported on the extent to which Trump gained that “Trump won 55% of Hispanic men, 19 points more than the 36% share he won four years earlier.”
Still, the image of Hispanics shifting rightward towards Trump is tempered by the overall picture. Harris still won more than half of Hispanic voters in this election, the AP reported, although that support was down from about 6 in 10 Hispanic voters Biden won in 2020.
Many believed and hoped that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments at Trump’s last rally in Madison Square Garden, which were insulting to Latinos in general and referred to Puerto Rico, as a “floating island of garbage,” would ensure Harris a stronger showing in the Latino community. However, in Pennsylvania, the BBC reported that the state’s “Latino Belt” community wasn’t surprised by the results. Things like family values, inflation, the economy and border security were their deciding factors.
Closer to home, Trump won 56% of the vote in Miami-Dade, turning Florida’s formerly blue county red. A recent FIU poll, part of the Latino Public Opinion Forum, found that 15% of Latino respondents changed their party affiliation in the past year. Of this group, 42.3% of those switched to the Republican Party.
“I’m really disappointed with these results,” said Escalante. “As a woman, and a woman of color, I wish those of my gender and background would’ve showed up more for our rights, and that they wouldn’t have sacrificed them for the promise of a better economy that might not even be fulfilled.”