Seeking the Hispanic Vote

Trump’s Latino vote was influenced by the arrival of immigrants and refugees from Central America, particularly Venezuela.

In the shadow of the brutal American political debate, work began on the first Spanish language conservative radio network in the United States.

It comes as no surprise that the new network, named “Americano,” is based in Miami, and the fact that it aims to consolidate the rightward trend among Spanish speakers is no accident. The group assumes that there is a real audience, reflected in the nearly 32% of Hispanics who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Trump’s Latino vote was partly influenced by the arrival of immigrants and refugees from Central America, particularly Venezuela, and partly by their own situation in the United States.

According to many analysts, Latinos have a natural affinity toward Republicans as a result of conservatism and religion in Hispanic culture. At the same time, the treatment they receive in the United States pushes them toward liberal, more racially and culturally inclusive positions.

The result is that nearly two-thirds of Latinos vote Democratic.

It’s within this context that the radio company was born, driven by veterans of the Trump campaign and linked to Republican interests in Florida, which for the last 60 years has been continuously impacted by exiles of Cuban, Central American — especially Nicaraguan — and Venezuelan origin. But they are not the only ones. In Texas, for example, regions where Latinos are traditionally considered Democrats are registering an increase in Republican votes.

“If we are considered natural Democrats or natural Republicans, we are being underestimated as political thinkers,” says Geraldo Cadava, professor at Northwestern University and author of “The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump.”

According to NBC, Democrats attribute Trump’s gains to what they consider to be “an avalanche of Spanish-language disinformation in the period leading up to the 2024 election,”* although they say he nevertheless lost Hispanic voters by double-digit margins nationwide. Traditionally, around one-third of Latinos consistently vote Republican.

This could also be partly due to their nationality. Of the 65 million Latinos estimated to be living in the United States, 60% are of Mexican origin, a group that has been consistently targeted by Republicans.

But this doesn’t explain Trump’s success in the towns on the border between Texas and Mexico, with very different interests than those of Cubans, Central Americans or South Americans in Florida.

At the same time, the possible impact of a radio channel specifically aimed at distributing conservative ideas and theses cannot be underestimated.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.