Joe Biden’s statement last week before Latino voters in Phoenix, Arizona, reflects what is at stake in what is shaping up to be a close election between the Democratic president and the former Republican president, Donald Trump: “I need you desperately.”
And although a world is missing in political terms for the November 5 contest, various surveys conclude that Latino support for Biden has eroded since 2020, when a CBS News poll concluded that 65% of Latinos supported him. Now it is around 53%, although he continues to prevail over Trump in the preference of this diverse group of voters.
The detail is to maintain and increase that support by getting the disaffected to vote because it is proven that a voter who stays at home is as if he were voting for the opponent, in this case Trump.
The Biden campaign knows this and launched its “Latinos with Biden-Harris” initiative in Arizona, a swing state that the president won from Trump in 2020 in a close manner.
He also visited Texas and Nevada. Likewise, the first lady, Jill Biden, was in Puerto Rico, as was Vice President Kamala Harris, who stopped on the Island to raise campaign funds. Puerto Ricans on the Island cannot vote in presidential elections, but those who live in the United States can, and many live in key states where a handful of votes decide an election.
Biden released an ad reminding Latinos of Trump’s insults toward immigrants, while Trump continued to exploit the border issue in another ad.
But in the case of Latino voters, it is vital to recognize that they do not constitute a bloc, that their visions are as diverse as their nationalities of origin: they are conservative, moderate, liberal and progressive. Some are offended by Trump’s insults to immigrants, and others applaud him. Some feel empathy for immigrants and others despise them.
So there cannot be a single mold for Latinos given their diversity. But if something works, it is that you speak to them clearly and without ambiguity.
And Biden has several good things to say because under his presidency Latinos have experienced low levels of unemployment; programs and tax credits have been expanded that have reduced poverty levels among Hispanic children; Programs that benefit small businesses have been expanded. They have also benefited from the cancellation of part of their student loan debt. The list is extensive.
The immigration issue continues to be a thorn in the side of the Democrats as it has been impossible to comply with the elusive immigration reform and showing a strong hand on the border with “lite” Republican positions does not go down well with some sectors.
But Biden, so far, is drawing contrasts with Trump, especially regarding extremist and insulting language referring to immigrants as “animals” or saying that they “poison the blood of the nation.”
As a Latina, I am sure that a sector of our diverse community supports Trump and his horrible inflammatory language because there are Latinos who believe themselves superior to other Latinos and think that when Trump insults immigrants he is not referring to them, although in reality He is insulting us all. Others support Trump’s positions and overlook his contempt for immigrants.
But I also know that in our diverse community there is a lot of empathy towards immigrants and the enormous contributions they have made and make to this nation are appreciated.
Immigrants like those who, according to press reports, disappeared in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday. They work for a construction company that did asphalt repair work on the bridge. Media and social networks quoted an employee of the construction company, Jesús Campos, who said that they came to the United States looking for a better life for the families they left in their countries of origin.
They were working the hardest shifts. Not by “poisoning the blood of our nation,” as Trump says.
It is by recognizing the contributions of immigrants and the entire Latino community and marking the contrasts with Trump that Biden can effectively appeal to Hispanic voters.