Biden Struggles to Keep Latino Voters as Trump Makes Strides
Joe Biden, Democratic presidential nominee, is up against President Donald Trump in a race to gain the support of Latino voters. But he's struggling to keep them on his side.
A new poll from Washington Post and ABC News shows Biden's slow outreach with the Latino voters.
In the final stretch of the election season, the poll showed Florida's Latino voters were split 52% for Biden and 39% for Trump. But the advantage he has in this group is not that large since the poll only had a small sample size.
For perspective, Biden is not performing if compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016. She had 62% of Florida Latino voters on her side at the time, according to CNN's exit polls. Biden is also not performing as well as Barack Obama, said The Guardian.
Two weeks ago, an NBC-Marist poll also found that Trump had a lead among Latinos in Florida. The president had a 50% rating while Biden has 46%. Trump is also leading among Latinos of Cuban descent.
Why Does the Latino Vote Matter?
Florida Latinos play a significant role in determining the winner in the battleground state. While they are minorities in the U.S., their votes still matter to both candidates, said a Washington Post report.
The group can make a significant impact on who wins or loses, just as Trump proved in 2016. He won in Florida by just 1 percentage point.
Historically, Latinos are also known to be late deciders when it comes to voting, said The Atlantic. Their last-minute decisions could lead to results that are different from what polls showed.
As late deciders, they can still be convinced to vote for a specific candidate. This is why they have to work on havinh these late-deciding voters as supporters before they actually cast their vote.
Latinos Need Convincing
According to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Latino men still need to be convinced that Biden is looking after their interests.
Over the years, Latino voters weren't always a priority for Democrats. But some of them have a long history of strongmen leaders like Trump, said Politico.
They are drawn to Trump's form of leadership because it is what they are familiar with.
In addition to that, Trump's campaign is also centered on an economic pitch. It is a need for some corners of the Latino voting community.
Some other recent polls also suggest that Trump is making great progress with the critical voting group.
Politico conducted interviews with 20 Democrats. They talked to strategists, lawmakers, pollsters and activists.
During these interviews, Politico found out that Democrats themselves have mixed feelings about Biden, and Trump's campaign is taking advantage of it.
Trump has been doing an aggressive campaign strategy to appeal to voters of color. They are spending more than Democrats on social media and advertising.
Sindy Benavides of the League of United Latin American Citizens said there was a "lack of enthusiasm" from Biden. The cause of this is Trump's "early investment" to campaign in the group, and Biden's "lack of investment".
Benavides noted how Bernie Sanders did his campaign when he dominated Latino vote in western states.
She said Sanders was successful among young Latinos because his campaign included the Latino community. She said Biden has to speak to Latinos and hear out their concerns, which he isn't doing.
A representative of Biden said the pandemic made it⁷ hard to plan direct Latino outreach. But said they are planning these kinds of events in the coming weeks.
Check these out!
Amy Coney Barrett Emerges as Supreme Court Favorite; Trump to Pick on Weekend
First Presidential Debate To Focus on These Six Topics
Trump Expands Ban on Diversity Trainings
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
