Latino voters and political strategists are arguing in a report from Friday that Republicans have a serious opportunity to win Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania, a state that will be critical for the 2024 election.
Central to winning over Latino voters is that the Bidenomics message has "fallen flat" in Pennsylvania, Politico reported.
"According to an early February national NBC poll, Biden’s approval rating declined among Latinos to 35 percent, and he is essentially tied among Latino voters with Trump," the outlet continued.
Nicarol Soto, a Democrat born in the Dominican Republic, said that Latino voters believe that the "economy was [in] better shape when Trump was the president," adding that "they feel identified with him."
"We are losing a lot of voters," Soto said. "They’re moving towards the other side."
"The Republican Party has the greatest opportunity with the fastest-growing demographic in their history," Pennsylvania Republican strategist Charlie Gerow told Politico. "2024 is the opportunity for Republicans to truly break through and win if not a majority, then a large plurality of the Latino vote."
Gerow argued that Latino voters "are trending Republican across the state with very little direct engagement from GOP campaigns and the state party."
"Anybody in a position of political power in the GOP who is sitting back and not bothering to capture this growing, right-trending voter bloc should get out of the way and let the rest of us who care to grow the party take the lead," he said.
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Marine Corps veteran Omy Maldonado said that Latino residents of Pennsylvania were unhappy with the border crisis.
"The Hispanics I know who legally immigrated to the United States are angered by illegal immigration at the border," he said. "It’s like going to the store and having people continue to cut in front of you at the checkout line."
Berks County, Pennsylvania Republican commissioner Michael Rivera claimed that Trump is popular with young Latino voters under 40.
"A lot of them are Trump fans," Rivera said. "They like how he ran the country, what he did for the economy when he was president. And that’s what I’m hearing has made a good number of them change from Democrat to Republican."
Another Pennsylvania resident, Maria Montero, said that Latino voters "don’t have to shift their values," to vote for Republicans. "Their values are already aligned with Republicans. The shift really is to have their voter registration match who they are."
