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The Latino vote in Nevada, one of the key states for the US elections, is being contested between those who are reluctant to vote due to a lack of motivation, those who hope that Republican candidate Donald Trump will improve the country’s economy, and others who see Democrat Kamala Harris as a hope for their community.
“I don’t know if I’m going to vote. I’ve never voted because I don’t think there’s anyone worth it. It seems to me that all politicians offer the same thing, in different ways and with different dialogue, but they’re all the same,” Alexandra, a resident of Las Vegas (Nevada) born in California to Mexican parents, told EFE in an interview.
According to the Pew Research Center , at least 36.6 million Latinos, the second-largest population in the U.S., are eligible to vote this year.
Nevada is among the states with the highest proportion of Latino voters, at 22%, a particularity that makes this population one of the most important targets for candidates, in order to obtain the support of the six electoral college representatives that correspond to Nevada.
In 2020, President Joe Biden beat Trump by 26 percentage points among Latino voters in the Silver State, and this year, according to a Blair Search Partners study published in August, Harris leads the Republican by just 23 points among Latino voters in Nevada.
This small progress by Trump is a response to the “awakening” that the Latino community is experiencing, according to the perspective of the Colombian evangelical pastor residing in Henderson, Camilo Pérez.
“In the church we feel protected by Trump, in some way he was a good guardian for the church and morality even though his background is not very conservative,” the pastor told EFE. He met with the Republican in 2020 to express to the tycoon the needs of the people in his community.
Perez differs from Democrats mainly in his fight for abortion rights, one of the main points of Harris’ campaign, who has promised to sign a bill to restore reproductive freedom throughout the country: “that makes the Latino community very discouraged,” she believes.
Viridiana Vidal, an entrepreneur from the State of Mexico, will vote for Harris, excited that for the first time “a woman of color and daughter of immigrants” will come to power in the United States.
The Republican’s “racist” speech is one of the main reasons that distances her from Trump’s political ideas , in addition to the lack of “content” and order in the proposals he offers.
“Harris has more plans and when you listen to Trump’s speeches they don’t make sense. He is like the saying ‘create a reputation and go to sleep’, and that is what he did, he has created a reputation that the numbers were better during his administration when that was not the case,” he explains.
Vidal does not believe that support for Trump among the Latino community is increasing. She believes that “apathy” and lack of knowledge of the electoral process is one of the main reasons why Latinos do not exercise their right to vote.
According to the FiveThirtyEight polling average , Trump leads Harris in Nevada by one percentage point with 49% to the vice president’s 48%, while in the national survey, the Democrat is three percentage points ahead of the Republican.
