Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump see economic policies as their best chance to gain Latino support. However, their techniques are completely different.
Vice President Harris intends to highlight how her agenda will increase possibilities for Latino men in an interview with Telemundo on Tuesday afternoon, a tactic based on approximately a dozen focus groups and polling.
The Democratic nominee hopes to showcase her plans to quadruple the number of registered apprenticeships. She wants to emphasize how she would eliminate college degree requirements for certain federal government jobs and encourage private firms to do the same. Harris also wants to grant 1 million small companies with forgivable loans of up to $20,000 each.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, will hold a roundtable with Latinos on Tuesday in Doral, a Miami suburb.
His campaign promises to make the point that Latinos’ employment, salaries, and property ownership grew during his tenure in government. According to the campaign, he would also argue that Harris and President Joe Biden have caused high inflation for Latinos and that “Trump is the only candidate who can bring prosperity back to America.”
The Trump and Harris teams perceive a potential election-winning opportunity with Latino men, who might sway the outcome in states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada if their customary Democratic support wanes. Trump feels he has made progress with Latino men. Harris’ campaign is attempting to shore up support within the same category, with the election just two weeks away.
It raises the question of whether memories of a Trump presidency, or the possibility of new policies under Harris, will motivate Latino voters more.
“We are very confident that these policies resonate because we’ve seen them in speeches and focus groups,” said Matt Barreto, a Harris campaign pollster. “It speaks to Latino men in particular about being successful and achieving the American dream.”
In the last weeks of the campaign, both campaigns are competing for an advantage among the increasingly diverse electorate. Harris has also targeted Black men, to whom she offered forgiven loans for small enterprises. She appeared on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” to appeal to younger women, whereas Trump has participated on podcasts aimed for younger men.
Last week, Trump participated in a Univision town hall, where his main pitch to Latinos was that the economy had been wonderful during his presidency.
“We had the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Mr. Trump stated. “Now we have a bad economy, mostly due to inflation. So we are going to get rid of inflation.”
The former president’s depiction of his own economic achievements often leaves out the massive job losses and recession triggered by the epidemic in 2020. Inflation is presently at a very healthy 2.4%, but voters are still frustrated by the fact that inflation soared to 9.1% in June 2022 as fuel, grocery, and housing prices rose dramatically.
On Univision, Trump stated that greater oil output would reduce overall inflation if elected. He has also argued that his combination of tariff increases and tax cuts will boost GDP, albeit his campaign falls short of Harris’ policy outline in terms of substance.
In a close race, the Harris campaign is wagering that Latino men will become more aware of policy specifics as the election approaches.
According to Barreto, the Harris team discovered that Latino men, in particular, wanted access to apprenticeships that would allow those without college degrees to have a financially solid profession.
According to the most recent Labor Department numbers, there are 641,044 registered apprenticeships, a rise from the Trump administration’s peak of 569,311 in 2020. Doubling that figure, as Harris advocated, would result in around 1.2 million apprenticeships over four years.
Latino men also voiced a need for access to cash and credit to start businesses, with the Treasury Department reporting on Oct. 10 that Latino business ownership is up 40% from pre-pandemic levels and may rise further with better financing alternatives.
This week, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will appear on Univision’s syndicated radio show El Bueno, La Mala, y El Feo, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, will be interviewed by Univision’s nationally syndicated afternoon radio show, El Free-Guey Show. Emhoff will also be interviewed by Alex “El Genio” Lucas for Nueva Network Radio.
Trump seeks to persuade Latinos that they can trust him as a fellow businessman, despite the fact that he has called for the wholesale deportation of illegal immigrants.
“Hispanic people — they say you can’t generalize, but I believe you can — they have great entrepreneurship and — my, do you have such vitality. Please ease up a little bit. “Calm down,” Trump stated at an October 12 event. “You have great ambition, you have great energy, very smart, and you really do like natural entrepreneurs.”