The tide is turning. Traditionally, Hispanics tended to vote for Democrats – but now more are looking for Republican policies, especially when it comes to illegal immigration. A new poll shows that 56% of Hispanic Texas voters support building a border wall and other security measures along the Texas-Mexico boundary and that more are seeking office in the Lone Star State as Republicans.
Border Wall Approval
The poll was conducted in February by the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project. It found that more than half of the state’s Hispanic voters approve of a border wall, and that 65% of all Texans in general support it as well. It shouldn’t be a surprise that people want stronger security measures. More than 2.4 million illegal immigrants were encountered at the US-Mexico border in 2023 compared to 1.7million in 2021 according to data from US Customs and Border Protection.
When it comes to other security implementations, 42% of Hispanic voters support buoys and barbed wire at the Rio Grande River while 49% do not. However, 57% of Texans do support such measures. With so many illegal crossings, 66% of responders support having additional state police and military at the border, including 51% of Hispanic voters. Hispanics in Texas also are not a big fan of President Joe Biden, with 56% who disapprove of his handling of immigration and securing the border.
Hispanics Shifting to Republicans
In recent elections, Hispanic Texan voters have been leaning more toward Republicans. In the 2016 election, 61% voted for Hillary Clinton while 34% checked the box for Donald Trump, according to CNN exit polls. In the 2020 election, 58% supported Democrat Joe Biden while 41% backed Republican Donald Trump, whose campaign focused on constructing a border wall.
More recently, during the midterm elections, a poll showed three regions in the Lone Star State where Hispanic voters were turning more Republican: “South Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, and outer suburbs of Texas’ four largest cities where minorities are disproportionately impacted by border and cartel related crime,” The Center Square explained. “By 2020, Hispanic Texans voted for Trump by the largest margin in state history for a Republican presidential candidate.” In Kleberg County, which has historically voted Democrat, residents Trump by more than 50%.
Project Red Texas claims there are many Republicans running for office in county and multiple border counties in the 2024 primary election. “Republicans continue to make significant inroads in Texas border communities and other historically blue regions of the state,” the agency’s director, Wayne Hamilton, said in a statement.
This is indeed worrying to Democrats who, for decades, had counted on Hispanic voters, and is perhaps one of the reasons President Biden finally made the trip to the border on Feb. 29 since Texas will be participating in the March 5th Super Tuesday Primary.
Losing Hispanic votes is a blow to the Democratic Party, and its members are frantic to find a way to regain their trust. In a state where residents are overwhelmed by illegal immigration, even Democrats are beginning to see the wisdom of a border wall.
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