How Trump’s strong play for Hispanic evangelicals helped him stun Biden in Florida
‘I think the Biden campaign is going to say, ‘We blew it: we took for granted the Latino vote and the evangelical vote,’’ said the Rev. Tony Suarez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
One answer, said the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and Florida resident, is religion.
“It confirmed what I’ve been saying for about three or four election cycles: that Latinos are not a monolith writ large, and that Hispanic evangelicals are quintessential swing voters,” said Salguero, who served on the White House’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships under former President Barack Obama.
Salguero pointed to two major Hispanic voting blocs in the state: ones with ties to Cuba, which President Donald Trump carried with 55%, according to NBC exit polls, and others with ties to Puerto Rico, only 30% of whom backed the president.
Cubans and Puerto Ricans, Salguero noted, represent roughly the same percentage of the Florida electorate — around 29% and 27%, respectively, according to Pew Research. But Hispanic evangelicals, while a small group overall, overlap with both groups and tend to be swayed by issues rather than loyalty to one party.
“You have those very close races, and who’s going to make the difference? Probably the quintessential faith voter in Orlando, in Tampa and in Miami.”