Latino voters wave to Trump in election | Their biggest concern

ATLANTA – While the majority of Latino voters voted for Vice President Kamala Harris nationally and in Georgia, a larger share of Latino voters than ever voted for a Republican presidential candidate in this election.

Organizers mobilizing Latino voters for both parties say the increased Latino support for Republicans is not necessarily because they like former President Donald Trump or his rhetoric, but that they trust he will make the economy work better for them .

“I told voters they would call me and say, ‘Art, I don’t like the man,’ and I said, ‘You don’t have to like him, but you can like what he stands for.’ .” said Art Gallegos, president of Latinos Conservative Organization of Georgia.

He says this was a conversation he often had with voters leading up to this election.

And he says the reason many still supported Trump was because he advocated a better economic future for them.

“The number one priority why people came out and voted, especially in the Latino community, was the economy,” Gallegos said.

According to exit polls from the Associated Press, in the US, the majority of Latino voters, 55%, voted for Harris.

While 42% of Latino voters chose President-elect Donald Trump.

That’s a big increase from the 35% who voted for him in 2020 when he lost to President Joe Biden.

“The economy, employment, inflation and the higher costs of equitable goods and services essentially dominated this election,” said Georgia Senator Jason Anavitarte.

He says inflation during the Biden administration has hit Latino families hard, making them want to make change.

“I think many of them have ultimately come to the decision that Donald Trump is the person who will lead them to the American dream and not the Biden administration,” Anavitarte said.

But Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, policy director of the GALEO Impact Fundsays the shift in Latino voters’ support for Trump was significant nationally, but minimal at the state level.

“There’s no denying that the Trump campaign saw some improvements, but from the exit polls I looked at, he saw a 1% improvement in our community here in Georgia,” Gomez-Leineweber said.

He’s right.

In 2020, 41% of Latino voters in Georgia supported Trump, compared to 42% in this election.

“Still, a large majority of Latino voters here in Georgia chose Kamala Harris,” he said.

But Gomez-Leineweber says he sees this as frustration with the way they have lived under the Biden administration and that he did not see Harris as a change from Biden.

“People vote for change when they feel like the country is going in the wrong direction,” Gomez-Leineweber said.

Gallegos and Anavitarte said other big issues that drew more support from Latino voters for Trump include public safety, crime and the border.