More bad news for Democrats. With President Joe Biden's popularity already cratering, one of the most reliable voting blocs traditionally for Democrats appears to be crumbling. A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed Hispanic support now split evenly at 37% for Republicans and Democrats, a notable development since Hispanics have generally supported Democrats by 20-30 point margins for decades. Other recent polls show a similar shift toward Republicans among Latinos.
Texas has also seen this trend emerging in the past few years. Several mostly-Hispanic districts near the Texas southern border flipped to Republican in the 2020 presidential election. And Hispanic State Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City recently switched from Democrat to Republican, saying the Dems had moved too far left.
Texas Republican strategist Vlad Davidiuk says Democrats have taken Hispanic voters for granted, and misread what they really want. "The Democrat Party has not only failed to deliver on their promises to Hispanics, but what they do promise is completely contrary to what (Hispanics) want," he tells KTRH. "What they want is what most voters want...they want jobs, they want opportunity, they want safe communities, they want good schools for their kids, and they want to go about their daily lives without worrying if they're violating the latest woke orthodoxy."
As for the shift in border communities, Davidiuk credits Democrat open border policies, which have completely backfired on the party. "The Hispanic community is the first in line to get victimized by the crime, cartels, human trafficking and drug trafficking that come across that border," he says. "The Democrat Party and Joe Biden's refusal to get our border under control is one of the key reasons Democrats have lost the Hispanic community."
Heading toward the 2022 election and beyond, Davidiuk sees this as a golden opportunity for the GOP to flip the Hispanic vote. "The values of the Hispanic community align with Republican ideals," he says. "They're pro-life, they're pro-family, they're pro-church, they believe in the rights of the individual, and they don't want heavy-handed government controlling their lives."
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