Working Class Weekly: New Findings from Latino Focus Groups in the Rio Grande Valley
We heard from 17 Latino men and women in McAllen, Texas, last week. What did they say about the Democratic Party?
We’re back this week with another update from the largest research effort to understand why working class voters are trending away from Democrats.
In 2024, President Trump made historic gains with Latinos in South Texas. “The Red Wave makes landfall,” blared a November headline in the Texas Observer. “Historically Democratic and overwhelmingly Hispanic, border voters flipped in favor of Trump in November, with 12 of Texas' 14 border counties going to the GOP, up from five in 2016,” the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Why have Democrats lost so much ground in the Valley – with overwhelmingly Latino border communities enthusiastically backing Trump and shifting the political landscape in this once-reliably Democratic stronghold? What do working class Latinos think Democrats don’t understand about their lives?
Last week, we went to McAllen to try to find out. We held focus groups with 17 Latino men and women.
Of the women
Four voted for Trump in both 2020 and 2024.
Two didn’t vote in 2020 but voted for Trump in 2024.
One voted for Biden in 2020, and third party in 2024.
And one supported Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024.
Of the men:
Four voted for Biden in 2020 and then Trump in 2024.
Two didn’t vote in 2020 but voted for Trump in 2024.
And two voted for Trump in both 2020 and 2024.
They are the epitome of a “swing” voter group.
We wanted to listen and learn – and hear from them, in their own voices, what Democrats need to do to earn their trust and support.
CONCERNS WITH DEMOCRATS ON IMMIGRATION
Both groups said Democrats were too soft on border security and immigration and cared more about letting people into the country illegally than helping people already here legally. It was stark. The voters we heard from overwhelmingly believed that, under Biden, the border got significantly less secure and illegal immigration exploded. They think Democrats don’t care about the problem and need to change their views on the issue if they want to win again.
Latino men:
“They gotta change the way they’re positioning. They can’t let everybody into the country that is sent over here. It’s not a free pass anymore.”
“Obama sent back over 3 million immigrants, but he wasn’t considered a bad person.”
“Open borders, they have to adjust. That’s why they lost. You can’t have open borders.”
“It can’t be like the previous Administration.”
Latino women:
“With the past four years of Biden, they were pretty lenient and they were giving thousands of dollars to people, immigrants that couldn’t work… Since they’re getting amnesty because they come from a country that has a lot of violence, they’re letting them stay here but they’re supporting them with money from hard-working people.”
“On immigration, I don’t think [Democrats] really care, because they were letting everyone in. You know how they say, ‘yes, we’re for the people?’ They are ‘for the people,’ they’re just not for U.S. people.”
“They shouldn’t be given a lawyer. Okay, let me use myself as an example. I was married for 12 years. My ex-husband, when we got married, I had to pay about $10,000 to get him to be legal. I had to save the money to get him here legally. So why [do] these people get an attorney and everything when I had to pay $10,000 for the paperwork, for the processing and for all that?”
“There’s a lot of homeless here in the Valley that are U.S. citizens, and they’re out in the streets homeless. They could help out, but people from other countries were getting free rides.”
Voters in these Latino focus groups made distinctions between those who immigrated the “right way” (like their own families) and those who came the “wrong way.” This is something we’ve heard in previous Latino focus groups, too.
In McAllen in particular, several explained how hard they had to work to help a family member move here legally, or get food assistance, and so view others coming illegally as benefiting from a shortcut. They think this is fundamentally unfair. For many, this was a big contributor to feeling alienated by the Democratic Party.
FEELING THAT DEMOCRATS DON’T UNDERSTAND THEIR COMMUNITY AND ARE FOCUSED ON THE WRONG THINGS
Asked if the Democratic Party understands Latinos, one man said, “No. They pretend. They don’t.”
This came across in both focus groups – voters felt like Democrats pandered to Latinos or only cared about Latinos’ votes, not delivering results that help their lives.
Several voters across both groups believed Democrats have prioritized things like funding foreign wars over helping communities at home, pointing to money sent to Ukraine during the Biden Administration as an example.
These voters said they thought Democrats used to care about making life easier for working people, but the party’s priorities have shifted.
“Democrats used to [look out for working class people], like in the ‘90s, when Bill Clinton was around. When they were more social program oriented, and actually cared about the people. – Latino man
“The hope of retaining social services, things that actually help people [would be a reason to support Democrats]. I’ve been personally pretty disappointed, I don’t think the Democratic Party does enough really. I think they put on a facade, and I don’t think it’s fair to do that to lower class, working class people that think they’re being represented by these people.” – Latino woman
Both groups spoke viscerally about the economic struggles they are facing.
“I wasn’t even making to pay my vehicle. It was either one month of vehicle, the other month at the house, because then the utilities get behind and stuff like that. So, my daughter says, ‘Mom, move in with us’… I became homeless at the age of 59.” – Latino woman
“Even my little boy, it’s like my 14-year-old. The other day, I picked up his shoes and had a hole, and I’m like, ‘Adrian, why didn’t you tell me that?’ He was like, ‘It’s okay.’ Like, even my little 14-year-old knows the situation.” – Latino woman
“One of the things about McAllen is it’s like the poorest place in the world to live, so it’s like - you can go on Indeed and go look for jobs here, and you’re not gonna find anything that pays more than 10 bucks an hour compared to, if you go anywhere else in the world, where you’ll find jobs that can give you a decent living, a decent way to have a life.” – Latino man
These voters feel like life is increasingly unaffordable and that the jobs they have don’t pay enough for them to make ends meet.
Similar to what we’ve heard from Black and white working class voters across other focus groups, men and women in both these Latino groups mentioned raising wages, including the minimum wage, as something they would like to see policy makers do to help the working class.
“I would like to see more action in helping us with our wages’ increase. If the cost of living is going up, why isn’t our wages going up? I’ve been in the same field for five years, and they haven’t given me more money.” – Latino woman
“I would actually like to see them help enact laws that improve quality of life, like truly. I think that’s my biggest qualm with government in general: I don’t feel like anything changes for the better. We say right wing, left wing, but I think we’re talking about one word: controlled by money.” – Latino woman
DEMOCRATS AS ‘SOCIAL WARRIORS’
Across both groups, social issues were the clearest example of Democrats’ misplaced priorities. Asked how they think the Democratic Party would describe itself, one man immediately said: “Social warriors.”
Many of the voters said Democrats try to appeal to too many groups with out-of-touch social views and positions, and the men especially were concerned about transgender issues.
“I’ll still take the bad economy over the social war stuff about, like, trans, trying to shove stuff down our throats to make it okay. It’s like, ‘Hey, yeah sure bro, you can do whatever you want, you don’t have to be showing me 24/7.’” – Latino man
“Don’t mess with kids’ minds.”
“They’re trying to push trans ideologies.”
“They’re doing drag shows at schools, libraries.”
“They’re trying to tell them it’s okay if they know at, like, age 3 that they’re gay.”
“It’s okay if someone wants to transition, but let them, like, go through puberty and let their hormones simmer down so they're not volatile to begin with before you introduce notions that are irreversible.”
“Even the LGBT is denouncing a lot of the stuff they’re doing. They’re saying, like, these people are pushing it too much, with stuff in front of kids. They’re like, ‘Whoa whoa, we just want to be gay, we want to be quiet on our own.’”
– Several Latino men sharing their concerns with transgender issues
Even when voters expressed their own personal tolerance for people’s identities and right to control their own lives, they perceived the Democratic Party as overly-focused on cultural issues and making them too high a priority. They don’t want Democrats as a political party trying to police social norms or, as the voter above said, “shove stuff down their throats.” Especially at the expense of focusing on things like immigration, the cost of living, or economic issues more broadly.
WHAT TO MAKE OF IT
It’s important for Democrats to listen to voices like those we heard in the Rio Grande Valley. They help illustrate the challenges the Democratic Party is facing with working class Latino voters, who continue to feel like the party doesn’t understand them and isn’t prioritizing the issues they care most about.
On immigration, the voters we heard from in McAllen viewed the issue not through a lens of bias or prejudice, but through worries about their own economic security and a sense of fairness. Democrats clearly need to re-examine their position on immigration, with stronger emphasis on fairness, border security, and real reform. On the economy, these voters feel squeezed – like many other working class voters we’ve heard from across the country – and they think Democrats are prioritizing what they see as niche and liberal social and cultural issues over real ideas to make life more affordable. Focusing on clear, simple ideas like raising the minimum wage could help earn back trust.
If voters like these, who may have once supported Democrats, don’t know what Democrats stand for, then it becomes all too easy for them to slip further away from Democrats and believe the party’s priorities are out of whack.
 | A guest post by
|
How do we create mass appeal when we are a big tent party? Better yet, because we are a big tent party, why don't we have greater mass appeal -- supposedly among those in our tent?
Have we truly carved out a space for new voices and figured out a way to incorporate them: to negotiate a consensus position and find common ground within the ranks?
If this common ground has not been determined, how do you garner enough support to relay a convincing message to a diverse electorate; a message that says that you can respond to their needs with conviction and results? A house needs to be in order before you can move forward.
Young and new voices need to be incorporated, and a space carved out that reflects their issues in a party-agreed framework -- because they are all watching. These individuals aren't low-info. because they are ignorant; they are low-info. because they hear what's up, and they're tuning out what they believe are empty messages. They are angry about it and because of that it becomes easier to turn to grievance messaging.
I believe that when they see a representation of those 'voices of change', in some capacity(e.g. leadership on initiatives), they will be more likely to feel that they are being heard and taken seriously as voters. (Everything is negotiable.)
The Dems don't have the luxury of many European parties with highly defined interests (Green party, Liberals, Socialists, Unionists); however, this is all part of our collective, which includes people of many backgrounds.
Create structures that elevate and promote these voices. I contend that if this can be addressed, this will bring greater ease to your efforts.
WOW - That is a lot to take in at 6:30 am.
I appreciate that you’re listening instead of lecturing. But I want to ask an honest question. What do you actually want us to do with this information?
Because if the takeaway is that we should stop standing up for LGBTQ+ people, for immigrants fleeing violence, for the environment, for voting rights, that’s a non-starter for me.
I’m not going to treat misinformation as a “valid concern” when doing so only reinforces the lies. And it doesn’t build trust. It appears to me that many of the participants’ comments are nothing more than regurgitated lies, right-wing talking points they’ve heard over and over again.
I am willing to change how I talk, though. But I’m not changing what I believe. We can ditch the D.C. buzzwords and speak like neighbors. We can lead with values, name the real villains (billionaires rigging the system), and connect what we’re doing to real life: lower drug costs, higher wages, child tax credits, food on the table, a doctor when you’re sick.
But if the suggestion is that we walk away from the people who need our voices most (trans kids, asylum seekers, low-income families) that’s not going to happen.
We’re not losing because we care about too many people. We’re losing when people don’t know who we’re fighting for or why. That’s a messaging challenge but it isn’t a moral failing.
Maybe I read the entire article all wrong. Maybe you aren’t suggesting what I think you are suggesting. I hope.