Hispanic Americans Leaving the Democrat Party

For years, Democrats have bragged about their ability to sway non-white voters to support their candidates and policies. Liberal politicians like former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton won the majority of these voters using identity politics to secure the minority vote. 

Hispanics are noticing the negative effects of liberal policies and are changing their party affiliation. This is not based on identity politics but on issues like unemployment, high inflation rates, supply chain shortages, and the high crime rate. 

As these issues have recently taken center stage during the 16-month presidency of Joe Biden, Hispanics are taking notice and this large group of Americans could determine what the 2022 midterms look like.

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Trump, while in the Oval Office, was able to create a booming economy that had a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rate that was over 4.0 consistently. The 45th President created the lowest unemployment rates for Latino Americans in history, one of the many other groups that saw historically low rates of unemployment.

Trump in the 2020 election won over 75 million votes, with a majority of them being from Latinos. In Latino heavy towns throughout the United States, GOP raw vote totals in 2016 and 2020 went up dramatically, between 38 percent to 126 percent.  Hispanics are starting to realize the success that comes from such conservative policies from Republican lawmakers, compared to the opposite side of the aisle.

Border Crisis

Under the Biden presidency, there has been a Southern Border Crisis since January 2021. This is an issue that hits Latinos at home, where many Hispanic migrants are coming across from Mexico and Central America into the US.

President Biden tasked his Vice President, Kamala Harris with handling the Southern border. Since then, thousands if not millions of illegal immigrants have crossed into Southern Texas and Arizona, defying the law and being rewarded for it. The Biden administration has bused tons of migrants across the country, especially into large cities like New York and Los Angeles, as well into Republican States like Texas and Florida.

Illegal immigrants have also received plenty of government benefits that are coming at the expense of the American Taxpayer. According to Fox News, A FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) study in 2017 found illegal immigrants are a net consumer of taxpayer benefits worth more than $100 billion a year. That amount does not include the cost of protecting the border. The border crisis has also led to an increase in cartels smuggling drugs like Fentanyl into the US, while those that do so, profit off a drug that has killed plenty of Americans.

Kamala Harris has been asked many times about the border, and has laughed off the seriousness of the situation. In March 2021, Vice President Harris was asked about whether she planned on visiting the border. She responded by saying “not today,” then started to laugh afterwards. In June 2021, NBC’s Lester Holt interviewed Harris and addressed her not visiting the border. Harris responded “And, I haven’t been to Europe either,” and then proceeded to laugh. This interview happened when Harris visited Guatemala in order to find the “root causes” of the crisis, rather than going to the place where the crisis actually is.

Unemployment

Hispanics are suffering under Biden with high records of unemployment. In 2021, the Latino unemployment rate was at 6.8 percent, this compared to 2018 and 2019’s rates when the numbers were under 4.7 percent. Although the unemployment rate went up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, under Biden’s first few months in office the rate was still higher than at any point in time that Trump was president. Under President Obama, with Joe Biden as Vice President, Latino unemployment was consistently over five percent during their eight years in office, the first two years totaling over 12 percent each time.

Inflation

Inflation has been on the rise since the President’s $1.9 Trillion Infrastructure bill was passed last year which led to increased spending and a continuous printing of money from the treasury. Hispanics, and Americans altogether are being impacted by the 40 year high inflation rates that have occurred for over six months thanks to Biden’s poor fiscal policy of continuous spending.

This spending has also caused the US dollar to lose its value in the last 16 months. The Euro and the British Pound Sterling have more worth than the US dollar due to the continuous stimulus packages that have seen trillion of dollars being thrown at issues. Steven Rattner, who was the former counselor to the Treasury Secretary under President Obama has called Biden’s $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan “an extraordinary mistake.” “These poor policies include far too much budgetary stimulus as we addressed COVID challenges. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in the early days of the Biden administration will go down in history as an extraordinary policy mistake.”

Biden blames inflation on COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but these issues occurred well before Vladimir Putin agitated European conflict. Inflation was never a problem under Trump’s 10 months overseeing the COVID pandemic, and supply shortages have only increased since Biden became president.

Supply Chain Issues

For over one year, supply shortages have also been a main issue. As cargo ships are unable to unload materials needed to transport goods and services, Biden has done next to nothing to fix this ongoing concern. Food inflation from a year-over-year process has seen basic goods like meats, milk, eggs, vegetables, and fruit all go up in inflation rates that are between 5 and 15 percent. Hispanics who own businesses that sell and make food have suffered from such inflation, as the supplies needed to provide for their families have either become too expensive or have not been in stock.

Inflation has also caused gas prices to rise to at least $4 a gallon. In states like California, gas has risen to $5 and $6 a gallon, where people are paying more for less gas in their tanks. Joe Biden on day one of his presidency canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline in order to “fight climate change.” As Biden vowed to end the use of fossil fuels, the receiving end of that promise has led to more destruction. Under Donald Trump, the Keystone XL Pipeline made the US energy independent for the first time in 75 years. With this, Biden has made America energy dependent on countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden has refused to re-activate the pipeline.

Crime

Crime has increased and seems to be out of control in America’s biggest cities. New York City has seen mass shootings and murders since Biden took office. New York City is currently averaging 13.3 major crimes per 1,000 residents in a city that has 8.8 million people. With the recent subway shooting in Brooklyn that injured tens of people, as well as daily subway attacks throughout the five burrows, New York is seeing crime grow at a sporadic rate. Chicago is seeing continuous black on black shootings that have occurred for decades now and in 2021 murders were at a 25 year high.

A recent Axios poll found that 35 percent of Latino voters say crime is a top concern. This following inflation being the primary issue at 37 percent. Hispanic Americans are starting to wake up and see the rising concerns that stir from Biden, the Democrats, and their left-wing policies. Such failures have created higher unemployment, record-high inflation, and crime rates that continue to skyrocket.

Latino Republican Candidates

Republican candidates are starting to make their moves as the 2022 midterm elections are just around the corner, with many Conservatives representing the Latino community.

Monica De La Cruz

Monica De La Cruz is a Mexican-American woman who is running for Congress in Texas’ 15th congressional district. In 2020, she ran against incumbent Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) and narrowly lost in the last election cycle. De La Cruz looks to unseat the Democrat, as she has been publicly endorsed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). McCarthy described De La Cruz as “a successful small businesswoman who understands the needs and values of hard-working Texans.” In ads and social media posts, De La Cruz has called out the failed border policies under Biden’s reign, and has valued the importance of legal immigration and the rule of law.

George Santos

George Santos is a first generation Brazilian-American who is running for Congress in New York’s 3rd congressional district. After a close defeat in 2020 to Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Santos looks to win the seat two years after the loss. Santos strongly has called out the “socialist agenda” of the Democrat party, and has called for a change to fix the government system he sees as “broken.” Santos has called politicians like Suozzi “career politicians who have been living off the taxpayers dime with nothing to show for it.” Santos has also criticized President Biden’s “weak leadership” for “looking the other way” when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Marco Rubio

Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is running for re-election this year. The long time Senator has had a extensive track record of supporting Conservative policies that have benefited the Latino community. As a Cuban-American, Rubio was a big advocate for Trump’s actions against the Castro regime in Cuba, where the 45th president granted WiFi access to the Cuban people, as well as tough sanctions on the communist government. Sen. Rubio was described as a “virtual secretary of state for Latin America,” due to his influence in Latin American policy under Donald Trump.

Rubio has always been seen as an advocate for Cuban-Americans, as his state has the largest population of Cuban people. After a long career as a Florida State Representative which eventually saw him become house speaker, Rubio ran for the Senate in 2010 and has been there since. Rubio has been a strong supporter of small businesses and limited government and the Tea Party movement supported his original run for the Senate. Rubio has been a household name for over a decade in the Conservative Latino movement, and his influence could continue to lead to stronger growth among Latinos and Republicans.

The 2022 midterms are seven months away. As the Democrats show what their platform is really all about, the concerns Hispanic voters have with the way things are currently going could heavily influence whether or not the Republicans take back both chambers of Congress in November.