Latino voters flocked to back Donald Trump in the 2024 election over precisely the same issue that is now seeing them scorn the MAGA leader.
More than 70 percent of Hispanic business owners rank the ongoing cost-of-living crisis as a top concern, with a further 42 percent saying they can only see the overall economic situation getting worse in the future, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, first reported by Politico on Wednesday.
Trump’s victory in the presidential race against Kamala Harris owed a significant debt to widespread economic anxiety among the Latino community, which at 48 percent handed him the largest share of the Hispanic vote of any Republican president in at least 50 years.
Sam Sanchez, CEO of Hispanic-run Third Coast Hospitality in Chicago, told Politico that outside of the pandemic, 2025 proved his worst business period in almost four decades.
“It sends a really negative message to the 48 percent of Hispanic voters that voted for President Trump,” he said. “Everything’s just starting to fall apart.”
To date, the president’s claims to have “created the greatest economy in history” have not proven true by most, if not all, metrics of fiscal performance.
Amid Trump’s ongoing trade war with much of the rest of the planet, GDP growth has almost halved on 2024 during the first year of his second stint back in office.
At 2.7 percent, inflation also remains persistently high, with rising costs of utilities and groceries hitting lower- and middle-income families hardest.
The latest polls conducted by Quinnipiac University found that overall, 64 percent of registered voters agree that affordability has become “a very serious problem,” and more than 57 percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue to date.
The ratings indicate economic performance is almost certain to play a seismic role in November’s crucial midterm elections.
Hard swings to Democrats among Hispanic voters at recent polls, notably in New Jersey’s gubernatorial and Miami’s mayoral races, suggest MAGA may not be able to rely on the same wave of Latino support that helped secure them the White House in 2024.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
