‘More conservative than you might think’: Nearly a third of California Latinos support Trump
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As President Donald Trump showcases Latino voices at the Republican National convention this week, nearly a third of California Latinos say they support his re-election.
An August UC Berkeley poll found about 63% of Latinos said they favored Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, while 30% said they backed Trump.
The poll was administered by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies in English and Spanish to over 8,300 California registered voters between July 21 and July 27.
Among the respondents, 31% of non-Hispanic whites, 21% of Asian Americans and 7% of Blacks said they supported Trump, while to 66% of non-Hispanic whites, 72% of Asian and Pacific Islanders and 87% of Black people favored Biden.
As Trump seeks to toughen immigration policy, Latino communities are often mischaracterized as supporting only Democratic candidates.
Dean Bonner, associate survey director and research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, noted California Latinos tend to be less conservative than whites, but more conservative than African Americans and Asian Americans in the state.
“They’re more conservative than you might think,” Bonner said. “A lot of that is tied to social conservatism when it comes to ... abortion policy or even some same-sex marriage policies.”
An estimated 28% of Hispanics in the U.S. voted for Trump in 2016, according to a Pew Research Center exit poll, compared to 6% of Blacks and 54% of whites. About 66% of Hispanics, 91% of Blacks and 39% of whites said they voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
California alone holds 7.9 million eligible Latino voters, nearly a quarter of the nation’s Latino electorate.
Latinos make up 39% of the population and largest ethnic group in the state, but their sheer numbers have not always translated to a large voter turnout. However, in 2018, a surge of Latino voters cast their ballots.
Manuel Pastor, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, said political analysts have referred to the group as the “sleeping giant.”
“Part of it is — in particular for immigrants and working people — life is just so busy and politics seems very distant. It’s only when it begins to deeply affect your life and the life of your family,” he said. “I think that this is one of those years in which paying a lot of attention would be a good idea.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 4:25 PM with the headline "‘More conservative than you might think’: Nearly a third of California Latinos support Trump."