'Warning sign' for Trump’s GOP as key voting bloc shift 'could spell trouble' in midterms

A new AP-NORC poll shows a "potential warning sign" for President Donald Trump as his favorability among a key constituency of Hispanic voters has fallen since he beginning of the year, the AP reports.

An October survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 25 percent of Hispanic adults have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Trump, down from 44 percent in an AP-NORC poll conducted just before he took office for the second time, the AP reports.

The percentage of Hispanic adults who say the country is going in the wrong direction has also increased slightly over the past few months, from 63 percent in March to 73 percent now.

This shift, the AP says, "could spell trouble for Republicans looking to cement support with this group in future elections."

Hispanic voters were motivated by economic factors in the last election, and this new poll shows that "Hispanic adults continue to feel higher financial stress than Americans overall."

Republican Alejandro Ochoa voted for Trump last year, and says he is "now unhappy with the president," blaming high grocery prices, budget cuts and his inability to buy a home.

“He was kind of relying on essentially the nostalgia of, ‘Hey, remember, before COVID? Things weren’t as expensive,’” Ochoa tells the AP. “But now it’s like, OK, you’re in office. I’m still getting done dirty at the grocery store. I’m still spending an insane amount of money. I’m trying to cut corners where I can, but that bill is still insanely expensive.”

Although a majority of Hispanic voters still backed Democrat Kamala Harris in the last election, 43 percent of Hispanic voters nationally voted for Trump, according to AP VoteCast, which was up from 35 percent in the 2020 election in which he lost to President Joe Biden.

Between the economy and Trump's hardline immigration stance, Trump's overall support among Hispanics has plummeted. In March, 41 percent of Hispanic adults approved of the way Trump was handling his job as president, but now that has fallen to 27 percent, reports the AP.

"In another potentially worrying sign for the president, younger Hispanics and Hispanic men — two groups that swung particularly dramatically toward him in last year’s election — also see him a bit more negatively," the AP says.

About two-thirds of Hispanic adults under age 45 and Hispanic men now view Trump unfavorably, according to the new poll.

The chaos of the second Trump term is also turning off Hispanic voters, they report.

"My major concern is the disregard for the Constitution and the law, and then also the level of cronyism,” said retired school teacher Teresa Covarrubias, who is an independent voter. “The people at the top are just grifting and taking, and then there’s the rest of us.”