Latinas are expected to be a significant voting bloc during this election.
The most consistent predictor of voter turnout is affluence. People with higher education and higher income tend to vote more than their counterparts. Latinas earn an average of 51 cents for every dollar a white male earns, yet they are registering to vote in record numbers.
Yadria Sanchez with the advocacy group Poder Latinx said registration among Latina voters has more than doubled in the past couple of months.
“Latinas are stepping up because they recognize what’s at stake especially with policies like Project 2025,” Sanchez said during a recent online news conference to educate and inform Latino voters about Project 2025.
Sanchez points to Project 2025’s calls for restricting women’s reproductive rights, eliminating public education programs, and reversing the Affordable Care Act, among other “regressive” policies.
And, Latinas are becoming slightly more affluent. The total economic output of U.S. Latinas has grown by more than 51% since 2010, according to the U.S. Latina GDP report. Latina educational attainment also grew more than two-and-a-half times that of non-Hispanic females.
During another news briefing by SciLine, experts discussed other circumstances that can motivate less affluent and lower educated voters.
“When things go wrong, when communities experience a drop off in their economy, perhaps, voter participation actually goes up,” said Dr. John Holbein, an associate professor at the University of Virginia. “People get mad and they blame elected officials and they show up at the ballot box to express their concern.”
Overall, Latino voters take up a large chunk of eligible voters in the Mountain West. According to the Pew Research Center, 45% of New Mexico’s eligible voters are Latino. In Arizona and Nevada, Latinos represent 25% and 22% of eligible voters, respectively, while Colorado’s share is 17%.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
