Almost one-fourth of Latinos in North Carolina will be voting for the first time this fall.
A new poll shows that North Carolina’s Latino voters are most worried about things related to the cost of living, such as inflation, wages, and finding cheap housing.
The results were released Thursday by UnidosUS, the biggest Latino civil rights and advocacy group in the country. They were based on polls of 2,800 registered Latino voters across the country, including 300 in North Carolina.
The group found that this fall, 24% of Latinos in North Carolina will be voting in their first presidential race. Forty percent of the Latino voters in North Carolina are new since the 2016 election. That could also be seen in the light of the fact that they were too young to vote when Trump first ran for president.
The poll found that people trust Democrats more than they trust Republicans.
Not only that, but Vice President Kamala has a +29-point lead over Trump among Latino voters (59% to 30%).
“Latinos in NC are like Latinos in most other US states.” “They want something done about issues of quality of life,” said Gary Segura, president of BSP Research, in a call with reporters on Thursday. “The data shows that they trust one party a lot more than the other to make those changes happen, but it’s clear that both parties could do better.”
Four out of five people (49%) said that neither of the big political parties nor groups supporting them have contacted them about the election.
In a purple state where the winner will be chosen by a very small majority, the Latino vote could make the difference in many races.
Segura said, “Both political parties are guilty of political malpractice by failing to reach out to the Latino community.” He said this to emphasize the missed chance.
That was also said by Clarissa Martinez de Castro, vice president of the UnidosUS Latino Vote Initiative.
“Given these numbers, I’m still confused by the under-outreach.” We’ve said many times that candidates and their views are important, and that real outreach is necessary. She also said, “Of course, that’s especially true in North Carolina, where one in four Latinos will be voting for president for the first time.”
It’s important to reach out to people because 35% of those voters say they will vote early, 22% will vote by mail, and 42% will vote on Election Day.
59% of people who answered said that giving public schools enough money was the most important thing for elected leaders to do about education.
Many women are very concerned about abortion this election season because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s choice in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade. Seventy-three percent of Latinos in North Carolina are against making abortion illegal or taking away people’s right to choose.
When asked about immigration, 49% of Latino voters said that giving long-term undocumented immigrants and Dreamers a way to become citizens should be one of the most important things that the next president or congress does. Cracking down on people smugglers and drug traffickers was their main enforcement tactic.
Martinez de Castro said that a common misunderstanding is that most Latinos in North Carolina and the U.S. are illegal immigrants who can’t vote because of this.
At least eight of them are U.S. citizens, Martinez de Castro said. “Of the other two, one is a legal permanent immigrant, and the last one is undocumented.” “In other words, it’s almost the exact opposite of what people think.”
At the moment, more than 15% of the votes cast in the state are by Latinos.
The state head for Mi Familia Vota, Irving Zavaleta, said that the group’s goal is to register an extra 3,500 voters in North Carolina through their nonpartisan programs.
El Centro Hispano’s president and CEO, Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, said, “This election is a crucial time for our voices to be heard and for our communities to shape the policies that will directly affect our lives.” “When we work together, we can make real progress on the problems that matter most to our communities.”