Hispanic Voters Backed Trump—Now Many Are Having Regrets
Latino support for Donald Trump is slipping just one year in, with new polling showing growing frustration over the economy and rising prices.
When former Democrat Sam Negron went to the polls to vote for Donald Trump in 2024, one thing was uppermost in his mind: the economy.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Latino population, Negron said, “I didn’t like having to pay $7 for eggs.” “But really, it all came down to his message… making America a strong country again.”
Negron, who switched to the Republican Party in 2019 after decades as a Democrat, wasn’t alone.
When Trump secured a decisive electoral victory in 2024, he did so with the support of millions of Latino voters who helped propel him to victory.
In that election, Trump received a higher percentage of the Latino vote than any other Republican in American history, with 46% of eligible voters casting their ballots for him.
But a year into his second term, cracks are beginning to appear in that support.
A new poll from American Partners shows that support for Trump among American Latinos has fallen to 38%, a significant drop from the 49% high he enjoyed in early February after his return to the White House.
The Latino vote is vast and diverse, encompassing communities of varying ancestry, economic power, and relative size.
Collectively, however, they constitute the largest non-white voting bloc in the country, numbering more than 36 million.
Data suggests that Trump’s gains among these voters in 2024 were, to a large extent, a result of their dissatisfaction with the economy during the final years of the Biden administration.
A Pew poll found that 93% of Latinos who voted for Trump cited the economy as their primary issue, with violent crime and immigration trailing far behind.
Those same concerns may now be coming back to haunt Trump. New poll data shows that a large majority of Latinos—61%—are unhappy with how Trump is handling the economy, while 69% are dissatisfied with his handling of inflation. Most said they assess the performance of the U.S. economy based on prices. Republican strategist Mike Madrid, a critic of Trump and one of the most prominent experts on Latino politics, said he believes Latino voters have “completely turned against” Trump primarily because of the economy.
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He said this trend mirrors the situation Democrats faced during the November 2024 election.
“The Latino shift to the right was less about the Republican Party forcing it and more about Latinos leaving the Democratic Party [because of the economy],” he said.
“A lot of people here voted for Trump this time because nothing was happening with Biden,” said Moses Santana, a resident of a North Philadelphia neighborhood that supported Trump in 2024.
Santana, who works at a harm reduction facility for drug users, added, “But things are still tough… Low-income people are definitely feeling the pinch of prices. A lot of them think their problems have a lot to do with Trump.”
Santana’s sentiment was echoed by John Acevedo, a 74-year-old real estate agent and resident of Pasadena, California.
“The economy is not doing well. Prices have gone up. They promised they would come down. But they haven’t,” he said.
While White House officials have cited lower gas prices, tariff revenue, and foreign investment as economic successes, polls indicate that a large segment of Americans remains concerned about the sluggish job market, high prices, and affordability issues. Inflation remained at 2.7% in December for the second consecutive month, well above the Fed's target, primarily due to rising food and housing costs. This means that prices are not falling, as Trump has claimed, but are instead increasing at a slower pace.
Trump, for his part, has repeatedly blamed Biden for any remaining economic problems.
Inflation peaked at a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022 during Biden's term, when global economies were still grappling with pandemic-related disruptions. It had declined by the end of his term.
The president's argument is at least palatable to some of his Latino supporters.
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Lydia Dominguez, a Mexico native, a 10-year Air Force veteran, and a member of the Clark County School Board in Las Vegas, said she feels it has been "quite difficult" for this administration to get the economy back on track, even though they have tried their best.
"[They] have certainly been very successful in convincing companies to come to the U.S. and set up factories," she said, adding that prices are still high, but she gives Trump credit for "empowering" companies and their employees.
Even among some of Trump's staunchest supporters, economic concerns have led to mixed feelings about the president.
One of them is Amanda Garcia, who lives near Rio Grande City, Texas, on the Mexican border, and works in the livestock industry.
While Garcia is largely happy with the Trump administration – especially its handling of the border and immigration – she said she has experienced market disruptions due to his tariff policies.
"It really affects the economy, and it affects us [ranchers] on a different level," she said. "Sometimes he tweets something [about trade], and someone gets upset, and it can really have an impact."
"I don't think he realizes that sometimes."
Other Latino voters have expressed concerns about Trump's immigration enforcement operations, including ICE raids across the country and the deportation of more than 600,000 people between January 2024 and early December.
"I'm against all of that," said Rebecca Perez, who works at a restaurant in Oxnard, California, a city that experienced large-scale immigration raids at workplaces in June. “This should be a free country for everyone, but it’s not.”
Perez went on to say that in Oxnard, one of California’s major agricultural centers, crops are rotting in the fields because workers are too afraid to show up for work.
The poll found that 70% of Latinos disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration — significantly higher than the national average of 58%.
While Latinos were evenly divided on Trump’s deportation goals, 63% said they disliked the way he is currently implementing them.
However, many Latinos said they support immigration raids and see them as protecting the jobs and livelihoods of legal immigrants and American citizens. “As a human being, I feel bad for them. They’re poor in their countries,” said Allentown Constable Sam Negron. “But guess what? I’m poor in my country.”
Like the economy, Trump’s immigration policies have also generated mixed feelings among those who still support him after a year in office.
Oscar Byron Sarmiento, an electrician living in Houston, said that while he thinks Trump is doing a “very good job,” he also feels the immigration crackdown has “gone a little too far.”
“A lot of these people are good people. Law-abiding immigrants,” he said. “Yes, they’re here illegally, but I don’t think we need to be going after these people.”
He added that they want to stay in the U.S. and contribute. “They’re following the rules. Like grandmothers, mothers, aunts and uncles,” Sarmiento said. “Leave those people alone.” Political strategist Mike Madrid said that reversing or mitigating the troubling poll numbers among Latinos ahead of the midterm elections later this year could prove difficult for the Trump White House.
He added, "We [Latinos] are the least partisan group of any group, and when both parties disappoint us or aren't honest with us, we can reject both of them." "Both parties can be blamed for this."
The president's problems among Latinos are something that even many Trump supporters acknowledge—and hope can be rectified in time.
"The concerns are growing," said Crystal, the wife of Oscar Byron Sarmiento. "Right now, Trump is going downhill, simply because he's not getting the messaging right."
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