# How did Trump get so many Hispanic voters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133 "2016-11-09T05:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/21 "2016-11-09T07:34:29Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > WAG: Trump did a lot better with white people, and a bunch of Hispanic Americans are white. Exactly. One lawyer I worked with had the last name Hernandez. Whiter than a Swedish winter. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/22 "2016-11-09T07:40:34Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Hispanics generally have a religious, patriarchal, pro-family, blue collar sorta culture, no? Not exactly natural members of the blue tribe, outside the sense the GOP is against them. When it comes to social issues, that’s true. But on economics, it’s not–as even this conservative blogger (citing the highly respected Pew poll) [noted in 2012](http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/07/forget_immigration_its_big_government_hispanic_voters_want.html): > [@](#): > > A mind-blowing 75 percent of Hispanics tell Pew they want bigger government with more services. Contrast that with just 41 percent of the American public that says it wants bigger government with more services. (Some 45 percent of the general American population wants smaller government with fewer services. For Hispanics, it’s 19 percent.) > > This Hispanic love affair with big government isn’t a short-term result of the Great Recession. It isn’t a temporary product of the first-generation poverty; immigrants, legal or otherwise, have always struggled through in America. This affection for big government is uniquely cultural for Hispanics, and so strongly embedded that it apparently persists for generations. > > Some 81 percent of first-generation Hispanic immigrants tell Pew pollsters they prefer big government. In the second generation, it’s 72 percent. By the third generation, the number is just shy of 60 percent. Contrast that, again, with the mere 41 percent of the general American population that feels the same. Now, it’s true that Trump is not as into cutting entitlements and such as other Democrats. But the Tea Partiers running Congress still are. And this kind of big government with services can’t be maintained with the huge tax cut for the rich Trump is planning. So even if they don’t care about Trump’s open hostility toward them, this just doesn’t make a lot of sense and I suspect they will regret it. It seems like Americans need a periodic dose of the reality of Republican presidencies before they make a better choice. (I stopped being as sad about the results of the 2000 and 2004 elections once we got Obama, because I don’t think he would have had a chance had either Gore or Kerry become president.) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/23 "2016-11-09T07:50:58Z")
I wonder who wins Florida if Obama doesn’t cozy up to Cuba? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/24 "2016-11-09T08:33:41Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Okay, I just ranted in the Pit about low-education whites. But at least I can comprehend why they might do something this ridiculous. This, however, from the 538 blog, is just utterly mystifying: > > “Clinton is only at 65 percent among Latinos. Obama won 71 percent of them.” > > What. The. Fuck. :eek: > > So Trump’s got the power to mesmerize Hispanics also, along the line of the “Fifth Avenue shooting” bit? How on Earth can this be so? 😕 Apparently there are a lot of Latinos who do not like Hillary, or do not like liars, or who supported Bernie and didn’t like the way Bernie was fucked over by the DNC, or who are more interested in creating jobs in the U.S.A… I’m sure there are a lot more reasons as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/25 "2016-11-09T08:45:36Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Wow, really? Can you not just admit that not every minority suffers from group think? Maybe they think Trump better represents their interests? Oh, you mean like how he always talks about building a wall to keep out the Mexicans and deporting all the rapist Hispanics? Yeah, that must be it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/26 "2016-11-09T09:15:24Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Apparently there are a lot of Latinos who do not like Hillary, or do not like liars, Wait, so you are trying to peddle a narrative in which people who don’t like \*liars \*would vote for Donald fucking _Trump_? Come again? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/27 "2016-11-09T16:12:49Z")
I can’t speak for the Hispanic point of view personally, but I would speculate that these are people that are legal immigrants that recognize the importance of the rule of law. A country that can’t/won’t enforce its laws becomes the mess that much of Central and South America is, which is what they wanted to leave behind. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/28 "2016-11-09T16:40:25Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > People in Latin America with more Spanish or other-european ancestors than Indian or black ones, call themselves “white”. And historically, acted accordingly, imposing their will on nonwhites. Whatever the nuances of the concept of ‘white Hispanic’ in the US or countries of origin of Hispanics, ‘whiteness’ of Hispanics doesn’t seem to explain why an ostensibly more anti-Mexican\* white candidate would do better against a white candidate (Clinton) than a less ostensibly anti-Mexican candidate did v. a black candidate (Romney v Obama). Hispanics certainly aren’t much more ‘white’ on average than they were in 2012. \*That is, various nationalities of Hispanic is another variable. Trump’s statements widely quoted to show he’s anti-Hispanic tended to specify Mexicans, as ‘rapists’, ‘Mexico will pay’, ‘Mexican judge’, etc. Perhaps a bit of the explanation Trump did relatively better than Romney with Hispanics is because non-Mexican Hispanics don’t react as hostilely as might have been assumed to statements perceived to be against Mexico or Mexicans. I personally would go with what I see as simplest explanation as the main one. Trump has had a different appeal than past recent GOP’ers, more focused on working class concerns. A higher % of Hispanics (and blacks) are working class than is the case with (non-Hispanic) whites. Some of the election simply came down to the upper half or upper couple of quintiles (not just the ‘1%’) doing better in recent years’ economy than the lower half or lower 60%, and HRC represented the status quo. Of course the group identity concerns of blacks and Hispanics didn’t disappear. Perhaps that aspect was indeed exacerbated by Trump’s persona, statements and associations. But those two factors netted out in Trump doing still much worse among those groups than Clinton did, but better relatively than Romney did. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/29 "2016-11-09T16:54:02Z")
Catholics–\>Pro-Life ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/30 "2016-11-09T16:59:46Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > y… > Identity politics has a limit. Obama pushed it there. Yes, by being elected President While Black. Twice. We all know you hate him, but he’s on his way out. Your Guys will have a chance to show us what they’re made of. And what _you’re_ made of. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/31 "2016-11-09T17:02:54Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > Catholics–\>Pro-Life But only around 55% of US Hispanics now identify themselves as Catholic, and that’s lower than in 2012, not higher. Plus anyone paying real attention to the campaign would realize that Romney’s pro-life views by 2012 were heartfelt and his earlier pro-choice period in public life opportunistic, whereas Trump’s supposed pro-life conversion just opportunistic and he doesn’t actually care. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/32 "2016-11-09T22:43:32Z")
I live in South Texas, where about 90-95% of people are Hispanic. Most do not see themselves as members of a “minority” group in the least, or even have a strong sense of “race.” “White,” blanco/a," or “güero” may simply mean “lighter skinned than average.” (Non-Hispanic whites are “Anglos,” “Gabachos,” or - often affectionately - “Gringos”). Older people here certainly recall a time when segregation existed and the local elite was mostly white (or white-skinned), but most people under fifty grew up in a place where most local politicians were Mexican American. In my county, Trump received about 29% of the vote, which almost certainly means at least 25%, or one in four Hispanic votes. I think the gap is much stronger with male voters. This is anecdotal, but I would say at least half the working-class, blue collar Hispanic men I know who voted (which would be about half that subset) probably voted for Trump. They probably voted for Trump for the same reasons similar men in Indiana or Michigan did. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/33 "2016-11-09T22:47:34Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > Whatever the nuances of the concept of ‘white Hispanic’ in the US or countries of origin of Hispanics, ‘whiteness’ of Hispanics doesn’t seem to explain why an ostensibly more anti-Mexican\* white candidate would do better against a white candidate (Clinton) than a less ostensibly anti-Mexican candidate did v. a black candidate (Romney v Obama). Hispanics certainly aren’t much more ‘white’ on average than they were in 2012. > . Remember Romney’s “self-deport” plan. I think that might affect people more viscerally than “build a wall.” Romney basically said “I will make life so miserable in the U.S. you will want to leave.” Trump is mainly focused on keeping new arrivals out (and would probably continue Obama’s levels of standard deportations). ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/34 "2016-11-09T23:04:11Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > Remember Romney’s “self-deport” plan. I think that might affect people more viscerally than “build a wall.” Romney basically said “I will make life so miserable in the U.S. you will want to leave.” Trump is mainly focused on keeping new arrivals out (and would probably continue Obama’s levels of standard deportations). Yes, could be that talking heads on TV overestimate how differently average Hispanic voters would see the Romney v Trump statements on illegal immigration. Plus again and related to your other post, voters aren’t just one thing. Hispanic voters who are also working class average Joe’s might be more attracted to Trump than to Romney for similar reasons as white average joe’s are more attracted to Trump than Romney. Part of this is getting out the bubble/spin of saying Trump’s whole appeal is ‘racism’ then having to twist oneself into a pretzel trying to figure out why so many people, including more Hispanics apparently, are attracted to Trump. The simple answer might start with realizing that ‘racism’ or its undertones, though not necessarily completely lacking in any validity as an explanation of Trump’s appeal with anyone, isn’t necessarily the main thing with everyone. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/35 "2016-11-09T23:08:45Z")
I was pretty leary of the confidence everyone had that Trump is _obviously_ going to lose the Hispanic vote (more than previous R candidates) and there would be a big boost in their turnout to boot. It’s not that it was an unreasonable hope but they’ve had such a shitty record in election participation that I never felt it should be taken as a given they’d completely change this time. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/36 "2016-11-09T23:15:59Z")
Trump’s statements were directed at illegal immigrants. His own wife is a legal immigrant and naturalized citizen. Legal immigrants can and apparently did support Trump. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/37 "2016-11-09T23:36:47Z")
So, yeah, more hispanic votes than Romney, but not by much. > **[Another election surprise: Many Hispanics backed Trump](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/2016/11/09/hispanic-vote-election-2016-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/93540772/)** > > The Hispanic vote continued growing, but a surprising number supported the GOP nominee. > [@](#): > > Hispanics favored Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton 65% to 29%, a 36-point difference that helped her secure winning margins in states like Nevada and Colorado and kept her competitive late into the night in other key battleground states. > > But that margin, based on exit polling conducted by Edison Research, was smaller than the 71%-27% split that President Obama won in 2012. And it was smaller than the 72%-21% her husband, former president Bill Clinton, won in 1996. 65% is still a supermayority for Clinton, of course one can blame the smaller number on Clinton and the jobs/macho message of Trump, but I wanted to point that out because many here seem to imply that most hispanics did support Trump. The stereotype that is being talked about their participation does not apply to all states. ---
**Author:** ![eno801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/38 "2016-11-10T00:10:11Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > By not being a condescending douchebag like Hillary who talks to them like they’re slightly slow children\*. People prefer an honest racist to a dishonest, condescending one. (remember Hillary’s “Ay am yusssst like your abulea, senors and senoras” comments to name one example?\*) that and Kaine with his spanish rallies, cringe didn’t help. I hate to be questioned why I would not vote Democrat. really? I have to vote for “her” because it’s her turn. And to be honest I don’t believe Trump to be racist I never got that impression, but thanks for letting me know how to feel. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/39 "2016-11-10T00:17:03Z")
I think one part that people may be missing is that as any immigrant group becomes more assimilated, they tend to identify more and more as Americans and less and less as their ethnic identity group. So it’s possible that as Latinos are here for longer, they vote less based on their Latino identity and more based on concerns that they might share with other Americans, e.g. Trump voters. I suspect that this may be a counter to the notion that the declining number of whites in America dooms the Republican Party. Because over that same time, they may gain increasing shares of the minority vote. Unless a given ethnic group fails to assimilate. (That’s why divisive racial rabble-rousing helps the Democrats, in causing members of ethnic groups to see themselves in terms of their ethnic identities.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133/40 "2016-11-10T00:24:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Apparently there are a lot of Latinos who do not like Hillary,\*\* or do not like liars\*\*, or who supported Bernie and didn’t like the way Bernie was fucked over by the DNC, or who are more interested in creating jobs in the U.S.A… I’m sure there are a lot more reasons as well. Of course, the bolded section would have driven them away from Trump whose lies–both in seriousness and quantity–are far beyond anything Clinton produced. I am pretty sure that the decisions were not based on an actual opposition to liars. Cubans _émigrés_, established Latinos who oppose later “illegals,” people who align with Republican ideas regarding “family values” (despite the fact the Trump shares none of them), and others probably make up a large portion of the Tump Latino support, but opposing liars makes no sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-trump-get-so-many-hispanic-voters/771133.md?page=3)