Real Clear Wire was the initial publisher of this story.
Through Bill King on Real Clear Wire
A survey on the impending primary and general elections in Texas was issued by the University of Houston last week. Interestingly, it predicted that Biden and Trump would face off again in November, with Trump presently leading by 9% in Texas. It is shocking to see that Biden is trailing Trump 47–41 among Latino voters, with just 55 percent of Latino Democratic primary voters committed to supporting him and 45 percent still unsure.
Political strategists and commentators who are primarily white have been making inaccurate assumptions about the attitudes and voting habits of Latino voters for years. They have made the almost ubiquitous error of assuming that the Latino community’s top priority is immigration and that they are largely in favor of more permissive immigration rules. Both presumptions have shown out to be false.
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There is diversity within the “Latino community”. Although Americans from Mexico make up the majority, Americans from other Central and South American nations also add to the group’s variety. Every subgroup has different opinions on many facets of life, including politics.
There are huge disparities, even among people whose family initially came from Mexico. Sixth generation Texan and my pal is Latino. One day, he made a joke about not realizing he was a “minority” until he started college. I promise that his opinions on immigration are very different from those of a new Mexican immigrant attempting to get immigration for the rest of his family.
Furthermore, there are many other issues that worry Latinos than immigration. A few years ago, I had dinner with some members of the Texas House of Representatives to discuss the possibility of forming a new political party in Texas. The Republicans and Democrats made up the same percentage of the membership. Among the Democratic members, Latinos made up all but one.
I questioned everyone in the group about their reasons for not being happy with their current party allegiance. A Latino member informed me that his family was anti-abortion and ardent Catholics. He was sick and weary of his peers “looking down” on him due to his religious beliefs. Someone else stated, “Defund the police my a#$, half my family works in law enforcement.” Another said that his family provided oilfield services, and he was concerned that Biden’s green energy policy would negatively impact both their company and the local economy in the district he represented. Immigration was never discussed at the meal.
71% of Latinos surveyed in a recent UT survey agreed with “tightening U.S. border security and providing Border Patrol with increased technology, infrastructure, and personnel.” That lagged behind African Americans at 81% and Whites at 85%. Biden’s loose border policies appear to be harming him in Texas, with Latinos being one population that is particularly affected.
Surveys show that Latinos have varied opinions about immigration. Their opinions on other immigration-related matters differ greatly from those of their non-Latino neighbors, even though they have similar views on the status of the border. For example, compared to 51% of White people, just 29% favor the quick deportation of undocumented immigrants, with 41% strongly opposing it. Furthermore, compared to 56% of White people, 68% of Latinos support a road to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Furthermore, compared to 82% of White people, 61% of Latinos want harsher sanctions for companies that hire illegal immigrants. Comparatively speaking to Whites, Latinos also support DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) at higher rates.
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These results show that a significant number of Americans, including most Latinos, support border security in conjunction with a more methodical approach to processing immigrants—both those who are currently in the country and those who have just arrived. Biden has the chance to implement immigration policy in a balanced manner, yet he has strangely continued to maintain loose border controls.
I reject conspiracy theories about “white replacement” and the idea that the president wanted to attract more Democratic voters to the nation. Based on my electoral experience, encouraging non-citizens to cast a ballot is essentially impossible on a large enough scale to influence the result of an election. Targeting eligible voters is a more practical tactic, as one-third of American residents still choose not to vote in presidential elections. It’s interesting to note that a sizable percentage of absentee voters probably support Democratic candidates. In addition, a lot of immigrants from Latin America have opinions that differ from the Democratic platform, such their stance on abortion.
The goal of the New York Times article was to present Biden’s immigration difficulties in a favorable light. However, even empathetic reporters struggled to defend his border policy. Every time one party gains control of the White House, it appears that the incoming president is obliged to undo all of the previous administration’s programs, no matter how successful they were. This propensity impedes progress, as seen by Trump’s unwavering efforts to repeal Obamacare in spite of the program’s growing popularity and data showing a slowdown in the rate of increase in healthcare costs.
Biden arrived in the White House with an identical perspective. He wouldn’t be in this situation today if he had just acknowledged that some of Trump’s border tactics were effective and then pushed for the passage of some much-needed immigration system improvements. However, as Thomas Paine noted perceptively, “A man under the tyranny of party spirit is the greatest slave upon the earth, for none but himself can deprive him of the freedom of thought.”
We yearn for Thomas Paine’s insight.
