Democrats Losing Support from Key Voting Bloc as Inflation Runs Rampant: Poll
As inflation takes a bite out of Americans’ wallets, it is also gnawing away at Latino support for Democrats, according to a new poll.
Although the Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll taken in partnership with Noticias Telemundo did not show Latinos outright rejecting the Democratic Party, Axios reported, it showed GOP gains in several key areas.
“Getting prices under control is very clearly the number one priority for the majority of Hispanics and Latinos, and it underscores the challenges Biden is facing now,” said Chris Jackson, an Ipsos pollster and senior vice president.
The poll showed that inflation was the top issue for 34 percent of those polled, up from 22 percent in December. That meant inflation was now the number one issue cited, after being the fourth-highest in the previous poll.
And that could be terrible news for Democrats, according to Politico.
“The mood is just shockingly bad inside and outside the White House,” said Steven Rattner, an investment banker and former Obama administration official.
“If somehow inflation comes down and the electorate’s mood improves, they can compete,” Rattner said. “If these things don’t happen, the midterms could get scarily painful very quickly for Democrats.”
Jackson said the poll of Latinos shows their concerns evolving.
“There’s not really a single issue that’s super-dominant, but we’re seeing a shift from a focus on COVID and COVID-related issues much more to inflation, cost pressures, supply chain breakdowns,” he said, Axios reported.
Within the poll of Latinos, inflation was the top worry for 52 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents.
As inflation rises, more potential voters are turning away from politics, the poll found, as the number of certain or likely voters dropped to 40 percent from 45 percent in December.
Although the poll found that a generic Democrat would get 30 percent support over a generic Republican at 17 percent, the poll showed the GOP closing the gap by three points since December.
As for President Joe Biden, his favorable rating slid below 50 percent to 49 percent after having stood at 53 percent in December.
Pollsters asked Latinos which party really represents “people like you.” The results showed that 32 percent identified with the Democratic Party, a drop of six percentage points since the last poll, while at 17 percent, Republicans had gained three points.
The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points.
Although inflation has been a major issue throughout the county, hitting rates not seen in 40 years, it is worse in some places than others.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation in Latino-rich Miami has hit 9.8 percent since February 2021, about two percentage points above the national average.
The data showed that the Phoenix metro area had an inflation rate of 10.9 percent while Atlanta was second to it at 10.6 percent.
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