Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump is gaining traction among Hispanic voters as the 2024 presidential election nears, according to a new poll. He is outperforming his 2020 numbers with Hispanic voters, particularly on immigration, where they prefer him over Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 42 percent of Hispanic voters support Trump on immigration policy, compared to 37 percent who favor Harris, as reported by Fox News. Among American voters overall, Trump leads Harris 46 percent to 36 percent on immigration.
The poll, conducted between August 21-28, surveyed 4,253 U.S. adults, including 3,562 registered voters and 412 Hispanic registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2 percent overall and 4 percent for Hispanic voters.
While Hispanics show support for Harris over Trump on healthcare (by 18 points) and climate change (by 23 points), they are evenly split on the economy, with both candidates receiving 39 percent approval. In contrast, overall registered voters favor Trump’s economic policies over Harris’s, 45 percent to 36 percent.
The departure of President Joe Biden from the race may have helped Harris in this regard; a May Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Biden trailing Trump by 4 points among Hispanic voters on economic policy. Despite Harris holding a 13-point lead among registered Hispanic voters, this is still narrower than Biden’s 21-point margin over Trump in 2020. Some polls from 2020 had Biden winning 65 percent of the Hispanic vote, with Trump capturing 35 percent.
Hispanics are a diverse and growing demographic in the U.S., and in 2022, they accounted for about 14 percent of voting-age citizens, up from 9 percent during the 2005-2009 period, according to Census Bureau data.
“The Latino vote is probably the most pure swing group of voters in America right now and will be for a long time,” said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha to Reuters. Republican strategist Giancarlo Sopo told Fox News, “Hispanics have historically strongly favored the Democratic Party, so for Trump to be breaking even with Harris on the economy has to be seen as a win for him.”