New Poll Of Texas Latinos Shows Surprising Results

This week one of the country’s largest Latino advocacy organizations released a new election survey about Texas that showed some unexpected findings. With less than fifty days until the election, 52 percent of Latinos in Texas report they have not been contacted by either the Republican nor Democratic party or any campaign. 

UnidosUS debuted their new findings about Texas on September 17. Even though a majority of Latinos in the state reported not being contacted by a party or candidate, 62 percent of Latinos surveyed plan to vote in November. And in 2024, 26 percent of Latinos in Texas will be voting in their first presidential election.

The survey showed that Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Trump by 23 points with 57 to 34 percent support among Latinos in Texas. In 2020, Trump carried the state by 5.6 percentage points (with Latinos representing 23 percent of all votes cast).

As for the issues Latinos in Texas care about, they stayed mostly consistent with national trends. Inflation is the number one issue followed by jobs and the economy. Immigration is then the third issue Latinos would like to see addressed with healthcare taking the fourth spot. Coming in at a tie for fifth is crime/gun violence and then abortion.

The issue of immigration ranks higher in Texas than it does for the national Latino electorate (where it is fifth according to a national survey from UnidosUS). In Texas, a path to citizenship is the most important concern for Texans when it comes to immigration. Less than 20 percent cite mass deportation, which has been trumpeted by the Trump-Vance ticket, as a goal.

Interestingly, abortion also ranks a little higher as a top issue for Latinos than the national electorate (fifth compared to six). However, the findings in Texas concerning abortion trend more conservative.

When it comes to abortion, no matter a personal belief, 65 percent of Latinos in Texas “oppose making it illegal or taking that decision away from others.” That is the lowest margin from the states UnidosUS has surveyed, which include North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona.

In the Senate race, Colin Allred leads Ted Cruz by 20 points among Latinos. He fares ten points higher among Latinas than Latinos. And while 47 percent of Latinos ages 18-39 plan to vote for Allred, 25 percent remained undecided (with Cruz garnering 29 percent support).