Trump and Harris vie for the Latino vote on eve of election

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned around southwestern states this week as they sought to shore up the Latino vote with only five days until Election Day.

Latino voters account for %14.7 of all eligible voters in the upcoming election, according to Pew Research Center. New Mexico, where Trump campaigned on Thursday, has the highest share of Latino voters with around 45% the population. The states with the next largest share of Latino voters include California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. While California is reliably blue and Texas reliably red, Arizona and Nevada, where Harris held her rallies, are battleground swing states.

Although Democrats tend to have a historical advantage among Latino voters, that advantage has declined over the past four presidential cycles, according to a national NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC poll from September, especially as Trump makes strides with Latino men. One of the big reasons behind this, according to experts, is inflation and the cost of living crisis, two issues on which voters tend to trust Trump over Harris.

“So I’m here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community,” Trump told the crowd in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Thursday, before asking them not to make him “waste a whole damn half a day here.”

The state is blue-leaning; President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 10.8 points and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by 8.3 points in 2016. But Trump thinks he can shift it,

“We almost won it twice, and let me tell you, I believe we won it twice,” Trump said of the results of the presidential election out of New Mexico in 2020 and 2016, suggesting that the votes were rigged and that he believes he can win the state this year.

“One of the biggest reasons we will win this state is that you have among the worst border problems of any state in America, and I am the only one that knows how to fix it,” Trump said. 

But the Trump campaign also found itself in the middle of a controversy this past week that could dampen his support among Latino voters, when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made racist remarks about Latinos at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

Hinchcliffe joked that Latinos “love making babies” and he called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” And while campaign officials were quick to distance Trump from these remarks, the former President himself has yet to personally apologize for them.

Although Trump’s speech in New Mexico centered mostly around immigration and border security, a recent CNBC poll rated the issue as only the fourth most important area of concern for Latino voters, well behind inflation, jobs and threats to democracy. Even then, the poll showed that more Latinos believe immigration helps the country more than it hurts it. But the ratio was the smallest since 2006. 

Meanwhile, Harris held three rallies in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, where she presented an economic pitch to the voters while also taking jabs at Trump’s stance on immigration.

“With five days left in this campaign, my opponent is also making his closing argument to America. It is an argument full of hate and division,” Harris told the crowd in Phoenix. “He insults Latinos, scapegoats immigrants, and it’s not just what he says, it’s what he will do if elected. You can be sure he will bring back family separation policies, only on a much greater scale than last time.”

Harris also had Latino musicians open for her on Thursday, most notably singer Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lopez highlighted her Puerto Rican descent and appealed to immigrant and Latino voters as she introduced the vice president.

“[Trump] has consistently worked to divide us. At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels,” Lopez said. “It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day, it was every Latino in this country.”

Both campaigns have been amping up their Latino voter outreach efforts as Nov. 5 gets closer. Last week, Trump hosted a roundtable in Florida with Latino business leaders, while Telemundo aired a pre-taped interview with Harris.