Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A majority of Orlando’s working-class Latinos say presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s candidacy makes them more likely to vote in November, according to a new report from Working America.

Using qualitative and quantitative data from 509 face-to-face conversations with likely voters, the labor organization explored the motivations of swing-state Latino voters and the attitudes and experiences driving their voting choices in its latest “Front Porch Focus Group,” an innovative approach to gauge public opinion.

The report found that 82 percent of Latino voters said they were very likely to vote in November, with 55 percent saying they were motivated to vote by fear of a Trump presidency. Overall, 63 percent of Latino voters preferred a Democrat for president, while almost a third (31 percent) are still undecided and only 3 percent preferred Trump.

Additionally, nearly 1 in 5 Latino voters in the report said they have personally experienced or observed increased signs of bigoted language and racist incidents during Trump’s candidacy, with nearly 80 percent of voters strongly feeling that Trump has used extreme language, legitimized hate speech and inflamed the public during the course of his campaign.

“The hate-filled rhetoric used by Donald Trump is seeping into the lives of working-class Latinos and igniting their engagement in this year’s election. This isn’t theoretical,” said Working America Director of Latino and Community Engagement Alberto Fernandez. “We heard over and over stories of people being shamed or harassed for speaking Spanish or ‘looking Latino’—often done with references to Trump.”

Key findings from the report include:

• A majority (55 percent) of voters said Trump made them more likely to vote. Overall, 63 percent preferred a Democrat for president, 3 percent picked Trump and 31 percent were undecided.
• As the appeal of Trump’s divisive rhetoric has grown, so have increased experiences of racial discrimination. One in 5 voters in the report saw Trump’s candidacy as the driver of increased discrimination in their lives.
• Trump appears to be alienating segments of his base. Trump had some supporters, but 1 in 4 registered Latino Republican voters said they would support Clinton. However, most Orlando Latinos did not associate Trump with the GOP brand and viewed him as an outlier.
• Good jobs are still a top priority for working families. Good jobs and the economy, which is historically the priority concern of Working America constituents, remains the top issue among voters we talked with, at 29 percent.

“We’re seeing that the corrosive effects of Trump’s bigoted comments are turning off even some long-time conservatives. This isn’t the direction people want the country to take,” said Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum. “Our teams will be on the front porches of working-class voters in key battleground states like Florida this cycle, delivering a progressive economic message and a path to hold politicians accountable through collective action.”

Unlike traditional public opinion polling, which is based on randomly sampled people and intended to be representative of a given population, the conversations in the report targeted likely Latino voters and occurred over a seven-day span in early June across eight working-class precincts in Orange County, Florida. During that time, we held 509 face-to-face conversations with likely Latino voters making household incomes below $75,000. About 97 percent of the people we spoke with self-identified as Latino or Hispanic; 68 percent of folks within that group said they were Puerto Rican, followed by a segment of voters originally from Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. One in 4 interactions with voters took place in Spanish.

Above all, the report suggests that Latino voters are a population ripe for authentic engagement and mobilization to advance a progressive economic agenda.

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Working America is the 3-million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. We have 59,000 members in Florida. We reach out to working-class people about the economic issues and policies that affect their families and communities, offering a way into civic engagement and ongoing communication. For more information, visit www.WorkingAmerica.org .

CONTACT: Michael J. Brewer
202-639-6287
[email protected]