A new survey of Latino voters shows President Donald Trump’s policies aren’t fixing the economic anxiety many had in 2024. But commentary on the polling suggests Democrats aren’t capitalizing on the president’s struggling numbers with the key voting bloc.
Latino voters say the cost of living, jobs and housing are the top concerns among the nation’s second-biggest voting group.
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The survey, called the Unidos Bipartisan Poll of Hispanic Voters: The Road to 2026, found that 53% of Latino voters say the cost of living and inflation are their top issues. Immigration is still among the group’s leading issues but ranked fifth overall.
What did the poll find?
Besides cost of living and inflation, Latino Americans ranked jobs and the economy (36%), housing (32%), health care (30%) and immigration reform (20%) as their top five issues. Only 14% of the group believes the economy is better than it was a year ago, more than a third said it’s worse.
Sixty-five percent of Latino voters said President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are not doing enough to help the economy. Half of those who responded said they expect his policies to make them worse off next year.
According to the survey, 81% say Congress is failing to fulfill its role in checks and balances. More than 60% disapprove of the way the Republican Party is leading Congress. On the shutdown, 61% blamed the Republicans, while 22% said it was the Democrats’ fault.
When it comes to Trump’s performance as president, 64% of Latino voters disapprove. Thirteen percent of those who supported him in 2024 would not vote for him again, and another 9% were undecided.
But the majority of Latino voters stand by their choice in the 2024 election. Seventy-eight percent of Latino voters who voted for Trump said they would vote for him again, while 93% of Harris supporters said the same.
While the majority of Latino voters supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, Trump still earned 48% of the total Latino voting bloc, a nearly double-digit increase from 2020.
Are Democrats faring any better?
According to the survey, 52% of Latino voters would vote for the Democrat if the midterms were held today, while 28% would vote for the Republican candidate. However, the LIBRE Initiative, a conservative voting group targeted for Latinos, said Democrats are still not doing anything to win back Latino voters.
“The fascinating part is that the Democrats haven’t really lost Latino voters, but they’re not winning them back,” Daniel Garza from the group said in an interview with CBS News. “They’re waiting for somebody to win them over with something positive, productive that’s going to move us forward. And right now, I don’t think that Trump is meeting expectations, but Democrats have done nothing.”
He predicts that if the economy gets better by next spring, Democrats may lose Latino voters “forever.”
According to the survey, Latino voters trust Republicans more on border security and immigration. However, about one in three said they view the Republican Party as “hostile” to Latinos.
The survey was conducted among 3,000 registered Latino voters between Oct. 8 and Oct. 22.