Posted on April 20, 2020

Can Joe Biden Win the Latino Vote?

Yamily Habib, Al Día News, April 20, 2020

Although some believe that Barack Obama’s support for the candidacy of his former vice president will guarantee the support he needs to win in November, there is an undercurrent that could work against him.

For many in the Hispanic community, Obama will always be remembered as “the deporter in chief” because of the number of deportations of undocumented immigrants during his administration.

While the anti-immigrant measures of the Donald Trump government seem to be unparalleled, the historical memory of voters is a key issue in every election cycle.

Now called “the sleeping giant,” the Latino vote is the secret weapon of any politician who wants to win a seat in local, state or national leadership.

This was evident during the mid-term elections in 2018 when the “Blue Wave” gave the Democratic Party a majority of seats in Congress, and with a deep Hispanic representation for the first time in history.

With double and triple-digit increases in their participation, and considering that they are the fastest-growing portion of the electorate, Latinos across the country and in all age ranges are now a decisive factor in the November presidential election, according to figures released last week by Univision Communications’ political researchers.

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Biden’s challenge

The fact that some Latinos are not convinced that Joe Biden is the ideal president to change the country does not imply that, on the contrary, they are inclined to support Donald Trump.

The problem is, as political observers have shown over the years, abstention.

According to the latest national poll by The Economist/You Gov, the difference between Biden and Trump in Latino support is only 4 percentage points, with 40% of respondents saying they would vote for the former vice president, compared to 40% who said they would support Trump.

This favorability among Hispanic voters was also supported by a Morning Consult/Politico poll released last Wednesday, with a margin of error of about 2 points.

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