Hispanic voters returned Trump to power. Now some are getting nervous

When former Democrat Sam Negron headed to the polls to cast his vote for Donald Trump in 2024, he did so with one thing on his mind above all else: the economy.

“I didn’t like paying seven dollars for eggs,” said Negron, a Pennsylvania state trooper in the predominantly Latino city of Allentown. “But basically all his talking points were to make the United States strong again.”

Negron, who switched to the Republican Party in 2019 after decades of Democratic work, was not alone.

When Trump achieved a decisive electoral victory in 2024, he did so with the support of millions of Latino voters who helped push him over the finish line.

That election saw Trump receive a higher percentage of the Latino vote than any other Republican in US history, with 46% of diverse voters casting their ballots for him.

But a year into his first term, cracks in that support are beginning to appear.

A new poll conducted by CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US, showed that support among American Latinos for Trump fell to 38%, a marked decline from 49% in early February after his return to the White House.

The Latino vote is broad and diverse, including communities of diverse origins, economic strength and relative size.

However, they collectively constitute the largest non-white voting bloc in the country, totaling more than 36 million people.

The data show that Trump’s gains among these voters in 2024 were, in large part, the result of their dissatisfaction with the economy in the final years of the Biden administration.

One poll, conducted by the Pew Center, indicated that 93% of Latinos who cast their votes for Trump considered the economy to be their primary issue, with violent crime and immigration declining by significant margins.

These same fears may now come back to haunt Trump.

Data from the new CBS poll shows that a large majority of Latinos — 61% — disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 69% disapprove of his handling of inflation. The vast majority said they judge the performance of the US economy by prices.

Republican strategist Mike Madrid, a Trump critic and among the best-known observers of Latino politics, said he believes Latino voters have “completely turned” against Trump, especially on the economy.

He said this trend is a repeat of the scenario Democrats found themselves in during the November 2024 elections.

“The shift of Latinos to the right was a result of Latinos leaving the Democratic Party [due to the economy] “More than a function of coercion by the Republican Party.”

“A lot of people here voted for Trump this time, because nothing happened with Biden,” said Moses Santana, a resident of a predominantly Latino district in North Philadelphia, where Trump picked up support in 2024.

“But things are still getting tougher,” added Santana, who works at a drug harm reduction facility. “Low-income people are definitely feeling the price impact.” “A lot of them think Trump has a lot to do with their issues.”

John Acevedo, a 74-year-old real estate broker based in Pasadena, California, echoed Santana’s assessment.

“The economy is not doing well. Prices have risen,” he said. He promised them to come down, but they did not do so.”

While White House officials have pointed to lower gas prices, tariff revenues and foreign investment as economic successes, polls indicate that a broad swath of Americans remain concerned about a sluggish job market, rising prices and affordability issues.

Inflation remained at 2.7% in December for the second straight month, well above the Fed’s target, mainly due to higher food and housing costs. This means that prices are not falling, as Trump claimed, but are instead rising at a slower rate.

For his part, Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for any lingering economic problems.

Inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1% under Biden in June 2022, when the world’s economies were still grappling with pandemic-related disruptions. He fell by the end of his term.

And the president’s argument is one that at least some of his Latino supporters are willing to accept.

Mexico-born Lydia Dominguez, a 10-year veteran of the Air Force and a member of the Clark County School Board in Las Vegas, said she believes it has been “very difficult” to get the economy back on track so far for this administration, despite what she considers their best efforts.

“[They] “They have certainly been very productive in convincing companies to come and set up factories here in the United States,” she said, adding that although prices are still high, she credits Trump with “empowering” companies and their employees.

Even among some loyal Trump supporters, economic concerns are creating complicated feelings about the president.

Among them is Amanda Garcia, a rancher who lives near Rio Grande, Texas, on the Mexican border.

Although Garcia is broadly happy with the Trump administration — especially his handling of the border and immigration — she said she has had to deal with the market turmoil caused by his tariff campaigns.

“It’s really affecting the economy, and it’s affecting us [ranchers] “On another level,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just him tweeting something [about trade]”And it upsets someone, and it can really have an impact.”

“I don’t think he realizes it sometimes.”

Other Latino voters expressed concern about Trump’s immigration enforcement operations, which included ICE raids across the country and the deportation of more than 600,000 people between January 2024 and early December alone.

“I’m against all of that,” said Rebecca Perez, a restaurant worker in Oxnard, California, which witnessed widespread workplace raids in June. “This is supposed to be a free country for everyone, but it’s not.”

In Oxnard, one of California’s agricultural centers, production was wasted on farms because workers were afraid to show up, Perez added.

The CBS poll found that 70% of Latinos disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration — well above the national average of 58%.

While Latinos were evenly divided on their support for Trump’s deportation goals, 63% said they did not like the way he is currently implementing them.

However, many Latinos who spoke to the BBC said they support immigration raids and portray them as protecting the jobs and livelihoods of legal immigrants and US citizens.

“As a human being, I feel for them,” said Sam Negron, an Allentown police officer. “They are poor in their countries.” “But guess what? I’m poor myself.”

As with the economy, Trump’s immigration crackdown has also created mixed feelings among some of those who still support him after a year in office.

Oscar Byron Sarmiento, a Houston-based electrician, said that while he thinks Trump is doing a “great job,” he also thinks the campaign against immigration “has gotten a little extreme.”

“There are a lot of good people. Law-abiding immigrants,” he said. “Yes, they are here illegally, but I don’t think we need to go after these people.”

He added that they want to be in the United States and contribute. “They follow the rules. Like grandmothers, mothers, aunts and uncles,” Sarmiento said. “Leave these people alone.”

Easing or reversing the troubling poll numbers among Latinos is likely to be difficult for the Trump White House ahead of the midterm elections later this year, said Mike Madrid, a political strategist.

“we [Latinos] He added: “They have the weakest party anchor of any group and can reject both parties when they let them down or are not honest with them. Both parties can be guilty of this.”

The issues the president faces among Latinos are issues that even many Trump supporters acknowledge — and hope can be remedied in time.

“There are growing concerns,” said Crystal, Oscar Byron Sarmiento’s wife. “Right now Trump is trending in a lower direction, simply because of his inability to get the messages across.”

Additional reporting by BBC Mundo’s Leri Ventas and Angelica Casas

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