Chris Lange, FISM News
A new poll suggests that Democrats’ focus on abortion rights as a key midterm issue is failing to resonate with Hispanic voters, a demographic the party has long considered an ironclad voting bloc. Recent election cycles have shown a seismic shift in Hispanic support for the increasingly left-lurching party, and recent data showing this continued trend has many Democratic strategists concerned.
With the midterm elections less than six weeks away, Hispanic evangelicals, in particular, appear to oppose Democrats’ abortion-on-demand stance.
My Faith Votes released the results of a national survey of 1,002 evangelical Christians and 503 Hispanic evangelical registered voters Thursday in conjunction with the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. The poll, commissioned by Heart & Mind Strategies from Aug. 23 to Sept. 6, found that 66% of Hispanic evangelical voters approve of abortion restrictions. Broken down further, 38% believe that abortion should only be allowed in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, while 13% support pregnancy termination in cases where the mother faces a medical emergency. Fifteen percent said they support a total ban on abortion and 14% said abortion should be illegal in all cases. Only 12% said they believed abortions should be available at any point during the pregnancy.
Respondents were also asked whether they were more or less likely to vote for a congressional candidate who supports late-term abortion. Thirty-nine percent said they would be “much less likely” to vote for such a candidate while 28% said support for third-trimester abortions would make them “neither more nor less likely” to vote for a particular candidate. Only 8% of Hispanic Evangelical voters characterized themselves as “much more likely” to vote for a candidate who supports late-term abortions.
“The results of the poll are clear: a Democratic Party which supports late-term abortion — at any time under any circumstance — is a Democratic Party choosing white, elite liberals over Latinos,” the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, NHCLC President said of the results in an interview with The Christian Post. “It is the equivalent of putting a sign on the party’s door that says ‘no Latinos allowed.’”
In a previous interview with The Christian Post, Rodriguez predicted that the Democrats’ position on abortion would cause the Democratic party to lose already flagging Latino support going into the general election.
The poll and Rodriguez’s insight reflect a growing disconnect between Democrats and Hispanic voters reflected in recent election cycles that correspond with the party’s focus on social issues like abortion and transgender rights when a large plurality of Latino voters are more concerned about the tanking economy and rising crime.
A newly published NBC News/Telemundo survey shows that support for Democrats among Hispanics has dropped by 13 points since the 2018 election cycle. While a majority (54%) want Democrats to maintain control of Congress in the midterms, that number is down five percentage points from October 2020 and a whopping 13 points since November 2018.
The survey shows that, while Hispanic voters tend to side more with Democrats on issues like abortion and health care, they are more likely to trust Republicans on the economy and crime, which should be cause for concern among vulnerable Democrats in light of an August Pew Research survey which showed that 8 in 10 Hispanic voters say the economy is their top concern heading into the midterms. The results found that 7 in 10 among this demographic listed crime as a key issue that will shape their votes. Abortion came in at number 7 on the list (56%) well below health care (71%), education (70%), and violent crime (70%).
Rodriguez cited these polls as further evidence that “Latinos are abandoning the Democratic Party in droves.”