Dem support among Latino voters cut in half over last decade

Support for the Democratic Party among Latino voters has been cut in half over the past decade, according to NBC News/ Telemundo poll results released on Sunday, Politico reports.

Democrats still have a 21-point lead over Republicans for this key demographic, but Republicans have been gaining support among Latino voters since the 2020 election.

According to the poll, which surveyed 1,000 registered Latino voters nationwide, 54 percent said they preferred Democrats to maintain control of Congress, compared with 44 percent who favored Republicans. The 21-point difference has shrunk from the 42 percent disparity reported in Oct. 2012, according to NBC News/Telemundo poll records.

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The decline in Democrats' lead in party preference has been steady — the gap was 26 points in Oct. 2020, 34 points in Nov. 2018, and 38 points in Oct. 2016, per Politico.

Among those polled, differences in opinion among gender lines, religious affiliation, party preference, and geographic location also stood out. The survey answers varied greatly "between Latino men and Latina women, between Latino Democrats and Latino Republicans, between Catholic and non-Catholic Latinos, and between Latinos from California and those from Florida and Texas," NBC News reports.

Regarding critical issues going into the midterm elections, most surveyed voters disagreed with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. However, the results varied considerably according to religious affiliation, with most Latino evangelical Christian voters approving the end of federal abortion rights while most Latino Catholic voters disapproved.

The NBC News/Telemundo poll surveyed 1,000 Latino registered voters between Sept. 17-26 via landline, cell phone, and text messages. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.