Creed and vote catching How Trump's Republicans are fighting for Latino votes
Republican Vance may have deliberately chosen a church for his campaign event.
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J.D. Vance canvasses for Latino votes in Tuscon in the swing state of Arizona. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
J.D. Vance is celebrated during an appearance in a church in Mesa.
Image: dpa
Arizona is one of the swing states that are particularly hotly contested by Democrats and Republicans. (archive image)
Image: dpa
Ramos wants to prevent controversial regulations for immigrants from gaining a majority in the November election.
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People with a history of immigration are an important group of voters in the USA. (archive image)
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Violeta Ramos believes racist rhetoric is dangerous.
Image: dpa
Trump meets with voters who have Latin American roots. (archive image)
Image: dpa
Republican Vance may have deliberately chosen a church for his campaign event.
Image: dpa
J.D. Vance canvasses for Latino votes in Tuscon in the swing state of Arizona. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
J.D. Vance is celebrated during an appearance in a church in Mesa.
Image: dpa
Arizona is one of the swing states that are particularly hotly contested by Democrats and Republicans. (archive image)
Image: dpa
Ramos wants to prevent controversial regulations for immigrants from gaining a majority in the November election.
Image: dpa
People with a history of immigration are an important group of voters in the USA. (archive image)
Image: dpa
Violeta Ramos believes racist rhetoric is dangerous.
Image: dpa
Trump meets with voters who have Latin American roots. (archive image)
Image: dpa
Trump has made migration his main issue in the election campaign. At the same time, he is courting people with a history of immigration - he is dependent on their votes. And it's working. How does he do it?
27.10.2024, 12:21
28.10.2024, 08:17
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, is relying on religious values and economic promises in Arizona to mobilize the significant Latino electorate.
- In a state with a third of Latino roots, he is emphasizing faith and traditions while stoking fears of liberal re-education.
- Despite racist rhetoric, there is growing support for the Republican among Latinos, which could have a decisive impact on the election.
In Arizona, J.D. Vance is betting on God. In this fiercely contested state in the presidential election, Donald Trump 's running mate is courting Latinos - people with roots in Latin America. A church in Mesa, a town not far from the metropolis of Phoenix, provides the Republican with the stage for this. Several hundred people have come to see the 40-year-old senator - standing in line for a long time in the sweltering heat. During the event, people repeatedly prayed with the vice-candidate and sang the national anthem.
And Vance, dressed rather casually in a shirt and jeans, talks about his faith, which has put him back on the right track. "As Christians, of course, our values are not always popular, especially in modern secular culture," he warns. Only Trump is committed to ensuring that Christians can live according to their faith. Many Latinos are strictly Catholic. Vance's campaign appointment is one of many attempts to get the important voter group of Latinas and Latinos to vote for Trump in the election on November 5.
It all depends on the Latinos
Polls predict a razor-thin race between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. Every vote counts - and this is especially true in the so-called swing states, which are considered to be decisive in the election. Here, it is not a foregone conclusion whether the Republicans or the Democrats will win. Arizona in the south-west of the USA - on the border with Mexico - is one of these special states. A particularly large number of people with roots in Latin America live here.
Nationwide, Latinos are the largest ethnic minority, with one in five people in the USA identifying as Latino. In Arizona, this group is even larger, with around a third of residents in the state known for the Grand Canyon identifying as Latino. As a result, around 25 percent of the voting population there has roots in Latin America - in no other swing state is the figure so high. If you want to win here, you have to court Latinos.
Of course, people who identify as Latinos are not a homogeneous group, but a diverse community - but they all share a history of immigration. So how are Trump and his Republicans going about winning votes?
Trump's strategy
Religious values: Latinas and Latinos are considered to have conservative values. "If you want to raise your children the way you think is right, Donald Trump is the only candidate on the ballot who will fight for that right," warns Republican Vance at the church in Mesa, fueling the fears of religious parents of a supposedly liberal re-education of children in schools, for example.
Economy: "Any African-American or Hispanic who votes for Kamala should have their head examined. They're screwing with you," Trump said recently. Whether insults really help is an open question. But what the Republican repeatedly emphasizes is that only he can guarantee a flourishing economy. In the church in Mesa, the pre-selected questioner Gloria Badilla therefore asks what Trump is doing for small businesses. Vance has an answer ready: fewer regulations, lower taxes.
It's us against them: "I was born and raised in Mexico," says Margarita Palau-Hernandez. The Latina, who supports Trump, then tells the audience in the church how she came to the USA to study, started a family and became a businesswoman. In other words, a successful immigration story. A short time later, Republican Vance says that illegal immigrants are an insult to those who have taken the "right" path. A few hours earlier, at an appearance in Tucson, he was even more explicit: Latinos should be "pissed off" by Harris' open border. Good and bad immigrants: Pitting people against each other is the Republicans' motto to cover up Trump's racist outbursts.
Law and order: The Republicans are hoping that the very issue they are pushing - immigration and securing the border - will go down well with Latinos. However, Trump's announced mass deportations are frightening some. The Republicans are therefore trying to paint a picture of criminal illegal immigrants who threaten everyone's safety. "We don't want our kids playing in playgrounds where a bag of candy is really fentanyl in disguise," warns Vance in Mesa. At the same time, it is "cool" that so many with the names Hernandez or Gonzalez work as police officers.
Support for Trump is growing
Trump's strategy is quite successful - even though he repeatedly portrays immigrants as dangerous criminals and uses racist insults. This frightens many Latinos and Latinas. "I think the former president unfortunately created this huge rhetoric of racism. And now it's okay for people to be racist," said 38-year-old Violeta Ramos from Phoenix, for example, who is campaigning against tighter immigration rules in Arizona.
For many, it should come as no surprise that Latinos as a voting group traditionally vote Democratic in the majority. However, in recent years, support from Latinas and Latinos for the Democrats has declined across the country. While Harris is clearly ahead in polls among Latinos, her lead is at its lowest level in the past four presidential elections. So it is no wonder that the Republicans are making a strong effort to attract Latinos. Trump is particularly well received by men with roots in Latin America.
