Trump’s Latino and Asian support increased despite anti-immigrant rhetoric — here’s why

21 November 2024

Although Vice President Kamala Harris received more Latino votes than President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Trump's Latino and Asian support increased from what it was in 2016 and 2020.

That support helped Trump enjoy a win that was far from a landslide, but was decisive — at least in the Electoral College. Trump, according to Cook Political Report's vote count, won a long list of key swing states and picked up 312 electoral votes compared to 226 for Harris.

The popular vote count was close. Trump, in 2024, won the popular vote for the first time. Cook's figures, as of Thursday, November 21, show Trump defeating Harris by roughly 1.5 percent in the popular vote.

Harris, during the presidential race, was vehemently critical of Trump's threat of mass deportations and false, racist claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were kidnapping and eating residents' pets.

Journalist Gloria Oladipo, in an article published by The Guardian on November 21, details some reasons why Trump's support among Latinos and Asians increased in 2024 despite his anti-immigrant rhetoric and threats of mass deportations.

"A record 46 percent of Latinos voted for Trump — a 14-point increase from 2020, according to Edison Research exit polls," Oladipo explains. "Asian-American support for Trump increased by five points, rising to 39 percent this year from 34 percent in 2020. Black voter support for Trump sat at 13 percent in 2024, relatively unchanged from 12 percent in 2020. And though it's true that the majority of people of color voted for Harris across the board, experts have warned that assuming these groups would automatically reject a racist candidate such as Trump ignores important nuance, particularly with regard to concerns about the economy."

According to journalist Paula Ramos, Latinos in the U.S. aren't necessarily immune to "anti-immigration" messaging — especially when it's combined with an economic message.

Ramos told The Guardian, "That racial baggage is one that we’ve carried in this country and through American politics for a long time. And I think (that) has now been finally revealed in very clear ways through Trumpism…. In every single message: '(Immigrants) are taking your jobs. They are coming after you'…. Inevitably, particularly if you're part of certain ecosystems, you'll start believing that rhetoric."

Journalist Dash Harris, similarly, told The Guardian, "We cannot act as if the Dominican Republic isn't deporting thousands of Haitians right now. If Latin Americans are migrating from fascist countries, they are going to support fascism in their new space. It's a continuum of interest convergence."

Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

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