Anthony Victoria
For 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Anthony Victoria. On today's IE Latino Voices, we're looking at the changing political landscape among Latino voters. In recent elections, many voters have shifted their support between Democrats and Republicans. Those swings have challenged assumptions about where this electorate stands politically, but what's driving those changes? I recently spoke with Mike Madrid, a Republican Political Strategist who has worked with both parties. We discuss what he's hearing from Latino voters here in the Inland Empire and what their priorities could mean for the future of American and California politics. We've seen voters move back and forth between Democrats and Republicans in the last couple of elections. What do you think is behind that?
Mike Madrid
The Latino voter in this area has demonstrated a tremendous ability to dealign from both parties, and by dealignment, what I mean is extraordinary loss of confidence and trust in both parties. And what that's doing is it's manifesting itself in these wild swings, right and left, not really for one party or the other, but against one party or the other, and it tends to be the party in power that is failing to do the job of addressing the needs that Latinos are saying they want overwhelmingly addressed, which is the economy, affordability, the cost of living. And as both parties continue to flail and flounder and not address those concerns, our voters are increasingly kicking them out of office, and that's why you saw what a lot of people characterized, mischaracterized, frankly, as a rightward shift in 2024, a movement towards Republicans. I think we'll likely be an equally consequential and historic shift away from Republicans and to the Democrats, but both parties need to be very wary of drawing any conclusions because if they keep talking about other issues, it may work in the short term, but it's not working in the long term.
Anthony Victoria
Immigration is often seen as one of those defining issues for Latino voters, but you're saying that the economy should still be a priority for lawmakers. Why?
Mike Madrid
Yeah, both parties are making a critical mistake in not focusing on the economy. It's most acute here in California, but it is nationwide. Look, I've done a lot of focus group work and a lot of polling in the Inland Empire in the last six weeks. Overwhelmingly, and I can guarantee you, in this district, the economy is by a wide measure the top issue. But when no party has any solutions or any results to show for their work or their policy agenda, they're going to resort to these old caricatures of of what is driving Latinos, which in this case is immigration, and it's just quantifiably not true. It is important as an issue. There's no question about it. We are - our community is being hunted down and terrorized, but 100% of Latinos are affected by the affordability crisis. All of us are, and yet nobody is talking about that issue. And every poll, every credible poll internally and in the public, is showing by a wide margin they want that issue addressed, and neither party is doing that.
Anthony Victoria
When voters talk about affordability, what are the specific costs that are weighing on them, and how do they view the impact of lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington?
Mike Madrid
Voters make a distinction between the cost of gasoline and energy, the cost of housing and in affordability of rent and mortgages, the cost of healthcare, which is probably the best answer to your question, which is going to explode after this Trump bill goes into effect in January, and the cost of groceries. Like they, they understand that they're all problematic. They also blame Sacramento policies specifically. They know that Washington's a problem, but that doesn't mean that they think it's all Trump that's created this. They know that it's not by wide numbers. They know that Sacramento policies have increased the price of gas. They know that Californians pay far more for gas than every other place in the country because of our policies. They know that housing is far more expensive because of our policies. They know that, and so they do draw a distinction. They're all problematic right now, but it's not just this nebulous idea of affordability. Latino working class voters are very aware that the policies in Sacramento have created the affordability problem in this state, and they will resist it. It's just at this moment things are so bad in Washington that they're going to reject what's happening and use this election as a statement.
Anthony Victoria
So it sounds like you're saying Latino voters aren't necessarily embracing the other party when they switch their support. They're expressing frustration with the party in power. What does that tell you about where things stand between these communities and both political parties?
Mike Madrid
So what's happening is both parties are relying on the failure of the other party to win. That's what's so tragic and disturbing about this moment. Neither party is saying anything meaningful, substantive, or consequential. They're relying on the failure of the other party to win. But what are voters left to do in a two-party system? You have only two choices, and you can continue with a failure you know, or hope that even despite nobody putting any policy proposals forward, that something will change if you make a course correction, and that's - that's how Latinos are voting, mainly nationwide, but increasingly in California.
Anthony Victoria
That was Mike Madrid, Republican Political Strategist. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is supported by the CIELO Fund. For KVCR News, I'm Anthony Victoria.
