Often the media ignores or briefly discusses the role of Latino voters in U.S. elections. This is concerning since the Latino population has grown substantially over the last few years. Even in those instances when the media discusses Latino voters, they do so in ways that are problematic or generalist, such as describing Latinos as if they were a monolith. We know from research that Latinos are not a monolith and vary due to national origin, gender, generational status, Spanish versus English speakers, reside in various states and counties, and have differing socioeconomic status. When examining Latino voting patterns, all these differences must be taken into consideration. These differences can help explain why the highly awaited red wave did not materialize in the 2022 midterm elections as many believed it would.

The 2022 Midterm Voter Election Poll conducted by the African American Research Collaborative (AARC) is led by several reputable scholars and political scientists. These scholars are well versed in political science methodologies and have years of experience conducting research on underrepresented minority groups in American politics. Dr. Gabriel R. Sanchez, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institute, uses this data to describe the role of Latinos in the 2022 midterm elections. Data from this poll suggests that when examining Latinos as a panethnic group,the majority remained faithful to the Democratic Party. When voting for Democratic House candidates, 64 percent of Latinos supported a Democrat when compared to 33 percent who supported a Republican candidate, and 3 percent of Latino voters stated they voted for a candidate from another party. This shows that Democrats maintained support from Latinos during the 2022 election.

As previously mentioned, examining Latinosʼ voting patterns needs to be done by examining this group through different demographic characteristics. One way to do this is by looking at Latino differences by sex. Data from the 2022 midterm elections suggests that 68 percent of Latinas casted their ballots in support of Democratic House candidates when compared to 58 percent of Latino males. Additional information from this poll suggests that Latinas were twice as likely to say the issue driving their voting decisions were women’s reproductive health and abortion when compared to Latino males. Abortion was a major issue that helped stop the predicted red wave in Congress and turned out Latina voters to the polls.

To further analyze Latino voters, the Midterm Voter Election Poll provides demographic data by partisanship, age, and religion. As it pertains to abortion, this data suggests that for Latinos who find religion is very important to their daily lives, 20 percent found abortion to be one of the top three issues that needed to be addressed by Congress and the president, when compared to 25 percent of Latinos who state religion is only somewhat important, and 31 percent of Latinos who said religion was not important to their daily lives. This shows to what extent religion played a role when it came to views of abortion as a top issue. Religion also impacted partisan vote choice, with 37 percent of Latinos who state religion is important to their daily lives supporting a Republican House candidate, when compared to 33 percent of Latinos who only state religion is only somewhat important, and to 24 percent of Latinos who say that religion is not important.

While abortion was a top issue for Latinos, another issue that swayed Latinos was the economy, such as rising costs from inflation and gas prices. With rising costs of food, gasoline, incidentals, etc. this pushed Latinos to vote for candidates that would best curb the rising costs. It is necessary to note that the economy has consistently been a top issue for Latino voters across several data sources, such as the Pew Research Center, NPR, and the Midterm Voter Election Poll referenced above. Per data from the Midterm Voter Election Poll by age categories, 39 percent of Latinos ages 18 to 29 stated inflation was their number one major issue, when compared to 46 percent of Latinos ages 30 to 39, 53 percent of Latinos ages 40 to 49, and 55 percent of Latinos 60 years and older. This data suggests that for Latino voters by age, inflation was a major issue for those 40 and over. When examining gas prices, the results were fairly the same for all age groups, with 25 percent of Latinos between ages 18 to 59 stating gas prices as their second most important issue that needed to be addressed when compared to 22 percent of Latinos ages 60 and older who stated rising gas prices as their second most important issue.

When examining Latinos by national origin, the data suggests differences between which groups voted for Republicans versus Democrats. When examining support for Republicans, 31 percent of those of Mexican origin supported a Republican candidate, when compared to 28 percent of Puerto Ricans, 46 percent of Cubans, 39 percent from Central American origin, and 47 percent from South America. Overall, this shows that Cubans and Latinos with roots in South America were most likely to support a Republican candidate. When examining Democrats, 66 percent of Mexicans supported a Democratic candidate, compared to 70 percent of Puerto Ricans, 51 percent of Cubans, 57 percent of Central Americans, and 48 percent of those with roots in South America. This shows that those of Mexican and Puerto Rican origin were more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate in the 2022 midterms. Even though Latinos from Cuban, Central American, and South American origin supported Democrats at lower percentages, these groups showed slightly more support for Democratic candidates over Republican candidates. This suggests that there might be shifts in partisanship among national origin groups that have been traditionally considered a Republican voting bloc. These changes also might be caused by the political context of the 2022 midterm elections given discussion of the insurrection investigations taking place and responses to the coronavirus pandemic by the Republican Party.

Moreover, it is also important to assess Latino voters’ candidate preferences based on where they reside. Some important states to consider are battleground states in which Latinos are becoming a large voting bloc. Those states are Michigan, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. As stated by Dr. Sanchez, 74 percent of Latinos in Michigan, 73 percent of Latinos in Pennsylvania, and 71 percent of Latinos in Colorado voted for Democrats and were an essential voting bloc in supporting both Democratic gubernatorial and Senate candidates. Additionally, when examining House races, we notice a similar trend among Latinos. In Arizona, 64 percent of Latinos voted for a Democratic candidate versus 36 percent who voted for a Republican, which was another state that was well discussed in the media. The only outlier in the data was Florida, with 54 percent of Latinos voting for Republicans when compared to 44 percent of Latinos who voted for Democrats. This can be attributed to the national origin that is most prevalent in Florida, which are Cuban Americans.

Overall, we see from the data that Latinos have shown us the internal variation that exists among the Latino community and that Latinos are not a monolithic group. The data presented here suggest Latinos vary by sex, age, national origin group, and place of residence. Latinos did lean Democrat, but this should not be taken for granted and viewed as a common occurrence, as this can change at any time. We also learned that contrary to popular belief, while immigration is a central issue for the Latino community, the economy (inflation and rising costs) did take center stage as one of the most pressing issues impacting the Latino community. Also, important to note is the role abortion played among the Latino electorate. Thus, we can see that in this 2022 midterm election current economic issues drove Latino voters to the polls.