Hispanic electorate growth and its impact on U.S. elections

With every election cycle, the Hispanic electorate becomes a bigger part of the total set of voters. “Horizonte” host Catherine Anaya spoke with two political consultants about that growth.

According to the Pew Research Center, here are quick facts about the Hispanic electorate in the U.S.

• An estimated 36.2 million Hispanics are eligible to vote, compared to 32.3 million in 2020.
• Among the entire electorate, Latinos account for 14.7% of all eligible voters, a new record high.
• California is home to a quarter of all Hispanic-eligible voters.
• A narrow majority of Latinos in the U.S. are eligible to vote. A little over half of all Latinos (53%) were eligible to vote in 2022.
• Hispanic-eligible voters tend to be younger than eligible voters overall. Only 33% of Latino-eligible voters are ages 50 and older, compared with 48% of all U.S. eligible voters.

“Obviously when you have a new, Democratic candidate, it changes the math about the election,” said Lorna Romero Ferguson, Owner of Elevate Strategies. “I think that you have a female, a woman of color, it really presents an opportunity for Democrats to appeal to a broader audience, specifically a Latino community in Arizona. You’ve seen Donald Trump over the last few election cycles really make some key inroads with that demographic, but now that he’s not up against Joe Biden, and it’s Kamala Harris instead, it’s a different kind of calculus for him and how he engages that audience.”

Jason Barraza, a partner at Veridus, said he believes Trump was able to make that progress with Hispanic voters because there wasn’t a lot of excitement about Joe Biden.

“When there was a change and Harris became the candidate, I think that opened up the opportunity for Hispanics and most Democratic voters to be renewed and reinvigorated about the candidate and the campaign,” Barraza said.

According to Ferguson, issues like inflation, cost of living, housing prices and general “pocketbook” issues are what matter most to Hispanic voters. Ferguson said those issues align with the general electorate altogether.

Learn more information about how to vote in the upcoming election by visiting the Arizona Secretary of State’s website.