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The mobilization of the Latino electorate has skyrocketed ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections, with more than 5.2 million Hispanics who have already voted early, an 80% increase compared to the 2022 elections, according to data released this Friday by the organization Voto Latino.
"We are not seeing a trickle. It is the tsunami that Voto Latino has been predicting. Latino voters are turning out to vote early because they know exactly what is at stake: it is not an abstract debate, it is absolutely personal," said the organization's president, María Teresa Kumar, in a virtual conference.
According to an analysis by the TargetSmart platform presented by the entity, the more than 5.2 million ballots cast by Latino voters contrast with the 2.9 million registered at the same point in 2022.
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This figure makes the Latino electorate the most mobilized minority, surpassing Black people, who traditionally hold that position.
The tight race for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate has increased participation across all strata of society, Voto Latino detailed. In comparison, in the 2022 elections, nearly 33 million early votes had been cast in general four days before election day, compared to more than 41.3 million this year, which represents an increase of more than 25%.
Voto Latino especially highlighted the growth of the Latino youth vote, with 400,000 young people between 18 and 29 years old who have already voted, compared to the 259,000 who did so in the previous legislative elections.
In addition, it indicated that the Latino push was greater in some of the key states for the Senate such as Alaska, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, or Texas, where Latinos have cast 15% of the early votes, compared to 10% in 2018 and 2022.
The rising cost of living is the main concern of the Hispanic electorate, according to a Voto Latino survey, although a large proportion also pointed to the immigration policy of U.S. President Donald Trump as another of the most decisive issues.
39% of 7,000 respondents demanded an investigation into abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while 37% demanded a legal pathway to citizenship and 36.1% called for an end to family detention.
"There was a serious miscalculation by this president in thinking that Latinos would not care about mass deportations. We warned that it would affect us all, regardless of legal status or whether there was a criminal record, and now the community has taken it very much to heart and is voting accordingly," declared Kumar.
[Publicidad]