By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona’s Latino voters may be more likely to vote Republican in the 2024 presidential election, based on the latest surveys of Latino voters.
This voter shift was noted in a recent focus group conducted in Arizona and Nevada among Latinos that were either fluent in English or Spanish. The research discovered that narratives of President Joe Biden’s economic failures, as pointed out by Republicans, had significant influence on the voters.
“[They were] often feeling as though they were constantly working hard just to make ends meet due to the high cost of living,” read the report.
When asked to rank issues based on importance, Latino voters far outranked the economy, pricing, and jobs above social issues like “protecting democracy,” abortion, climate, immigration, guns, school safety, and public safety.
78 percent of respondents also admitted that they weren’t aware of any specific accomplishments by President Joe Biden or Democrats that directly helped them. That’s compared with 67 percent of Black voters who couldn’t identify specific benefits from Biden or the Democratic majority in Congress.
Specifically, a majority of the Latino respondents said that Biden and his “Bidenomics” had done “nothing” for them — in both languages.
Additionally, the Latino respondents believed that crime and public safety were more important to them than the Democratic Party.
When asked which party they would support for the 2024 elections, more than double the respondents remained undecided. The remainder expressed slightly more support for the Democratic Party over the Republican Party.
However, when pressed to cast their potential vote between Biden and a GOP candidate, more Arizona Latino respondents chose the unnamed GOP candidate over Biden.
The voters also expressed distrust of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who they blamed for their concerns of discrimination and hate.
The focus group was conducted through Valiente Action Fund, a project of the Democratic action group Way to Win.
Way to Win launched in 2017 following Trump’s victory, with the sole purpose of serving as a national donor network to defeat Republicans. The co-founders are Tory Gavito, Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix.
Gavito formerly served in various legal and activist capacities across Austin, Texas and Zacatecas, Mexico: first as a lawyer for the Equal Justice Center in the early 2000s, prior to becoming the legal director of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Mexico. Gavito then became an associate attorney at the Glenda Pittman & Associates law firm, before becoming the founding executive director for Texas Future Project.
Fernandez Ancona was a former vice president for the Women Donors Network, communications director for Citizen Engagement Laboratory, and senior advisor to progressive donors Steve Phillips and Susan Sandler, consultant to Democracy Alliance.
Hunt-Hendrix — granddaughter of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt and niece of Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt — also co-founded progressive donor networks Solidaire and the Emergent Fund. Hunt-Hendrix also served as a senior advisor for the American Economic Liberties Project and was involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hunt-Hendrix is not listed currently on Way to Win’s team page, though she lists herself as a co-chair of the organization on LinkedIn as of this report.
The organization spent $110 million in 2020 on key swing states to successfully deliver Democratic victories. Their targeted funding was especially impactful in Arizona and Georgia.
Way to Win’s primary funders have included George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and family, Stryker Corporation heiress Patricia Stryker, prominent D.C. consulting firm Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund, and the Tides Foundation-backed One Arizona.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
