Although Harris constantly reminds that Trump “has shown that he does not care about Latino men and their families” and repeats that the magnate has used speeches “of hate and violence” to refer to them, at this point in the campaign both she and her rival They seek to reach the Latino voter, especially men, through their economic proposals.
“The campaign is extremely tight, today more than ever we could not talk about an already defined contest, it is extremely difficult to talk about a leader and that is what means that both campaigns are moving with quite important efforts towards a base of voters who do not “It is only important because of the number, but also important is the agenda of the internal affairs of the United States,” Arlene Ramírez Uresti, an academic at the Ibero-American University of Mexico and columnist for “Forbes,” tells El Comercio.
According to the AP agency, Latino men could change the outcome in states like Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada if their traditional support for Democrats declines, something the Trump campaign says is happening in its favor.
In fact, analysis of a survey by The New York Times and Siena indicated last week that Harris’ support among Hispanic voters is in dangerously low territory for Democrats since she performed worse than the last three candidates. from that party to the White House.
“Harris is vulnerable on a number of important issues, including the economy, immigration and crime. Trump, who surprised Democrats four years ago with his appeal to Latinos, particularly men, has only strengthened his control, even as he closes his campaign with a markedly anti-immigrant message,” notes “The New York Times.”
Kamala’s agenda
The Democratic vice president is hitting the accelerator with ads and promises aimed at Latinos. The opportunities agenda that he released on Tuesday – and promoted in an interview with Telemundo – promises that it will “reduce costs, increase home ownership and expand job opportunities, and ensure that Latino men and their families can achieve their aspirations and achieve his American dream.”
Among his measures are eliminating degree requirements for Latinos without a college degree for 500,000 federal jobs and increasing startup financing for Latinos who start or expand their own businesses with one million loans of up to $20,000.
“Donald Trump has disrespected and insulted Latino men and their communities. As president, I will invest in them,” says one of the messages he wrote yesterday on his X account.
Political scientist María Puerta Riera, professor of American Government at Valencia College in Orlando, points out that the sector of the Latino electorate where the Democratic Party has lost the most support is the male voter concerned about the economy because, despite the fact that the economy has improved a lot, in general, the Latino male voter has not seen good results with the Biden Administration.
“Harris is betting on a programmatic package of economic opportunities to uplift the sectors hardest hit by the economic situation, but above all to strengthen the middle class. It remains to be seen how this will fit into public opinion, particularly in the case of Latinos and African Americans, sectors that feel that the Biden administration has not gone far enough,” he points out.
Ramírez adds that the plans that Harris announces now seek to remedy the gaps left by the Biden administration in a community “extremely hurt by inequality.” “If we talk about the disappearance of the middle class in the United States, we have to start by recognizing that it is precisely in the Latin communities where the American dream has disappeared, where the participation of the working base does not have fair remuneration or adequate,” he points out.
Trump’s advantage?
Experts agree that despite how controversial Donald Trump is, the former president has had a closer relationship with Latino communities.
“There is a very important part of discourse and proposals, but I think what is going to stick the most is the closeness,” says Ramírez, who believes that Kamala Harris as vice president lacked a lot to have that close presence in the Hispanic communities.
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“On the border issue, the reality is that her few visits to the border and her few meetings with the border communities made her be seen as a vice president who was distant from the issue. So not only has she had to compete against time because she started the campaign late, but she doesn’t really capitalize on her achievements or her performance as vice president because they represent a burden instead of political capital,” she says.
On the other hand, the expert remembers that Latinos who live in the United States no longer feel like Mexicans, Peruvians, or Ecuadorians, but rather they recognize themselves as Americans who have had a hard time gaining a space in that society. For this reason, a large part of the second and third generation Latin American community is concerned that there are many Latinos arriving again in the United States, which makes the American dream increasingly narrower. That is to say, there are a large number of migrants and there are not opportunities for everyone.
“So the speech that best responds to the concerns of the Latin American or Hispanic communities in the United States is Trump’s. These communities that today suffer from the lack of forceful public policy from the Biden administration, despite the fact that in strict theory, the government’s economic performance was not that bad.
What is Trump offering Latinos? Basically, the change they are crying out for and bringing back the economy that existed in their Administration. “That in itself is debatable because Latinos had economic problems during the Trump Administration and before the pandemic, by the way, but he is leaning on the frustration of people who have had to deal with inflation all these years, he He is relying on that to tell them that he is going to do things differently from the current government,” concludes Puerta.