Washington, D.C. – A new poll released last week by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Immigration Hub shows a comprehensive study on the varying attitudes toward immigration by Latinx voters in battleground states and districts. The extensive polling concluded that GOP immigration talking points fail to truly address what Latinx voters want and that messaging about providing a pathway to citizenship is popular among likely voters, including 82% of Latinx voters.
Juanita Monsalve, Senior Marketing & Creative Director of United We Dream Action, said:
“With so much at stake in the midterm elections for Latinx and immigrant communities, we are at a crossroads where we need Democrats to fiercely engage Latinx voters by intentionally addressing their greatest concerns. The poll shared by our partners at SEIU and The Immigration Hub explicitly states that ‘if Democrats respond aggressively on the immigration issue, and go on offense against Republicans, there will be a substantial shift towards Democrats.’ Simply — if Democrats want the Latinx vote, they must earn it by providing a progressive vision on immigration that puts people first and treats them with dignity and respect.
The Latinx community has been the subject of relentless GOP disinformation campaigns meant to confuse voters and dissuade them from exercising our political power at the polls. This includes many Republicans running for office – from Blake Masters in Arizona, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, and Adam Laxalt in Nevada – going all in on dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric to scare people and win votes. They are using dangerous anti-immigrant language in their campaign ads, on social media, and during campaign speeches as a way to pit us against each other. These are all thinly veiled racist dog whistles used by Republicans to divide voters and distract us from the fact that they don’t actually have solutions for some of our most pressing issues.
This latest polling shows that if Democrats fail to take this opportunity to call out Republicans for trying to divide and distract voters, and present a people first vision on issues like immigration, they risk losing their majority in Congress, and losing trust with this growing voting demographic. Latinx voters will be crucial to key Senate races not just in states like Arizona and Nevada, but also in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where Latinx voters helped propel President Biden to victory in 2020.”