Philadelphia/Wilmington: Saby Gurule is a 22-year-old student pursuing a master’s degree in education at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. she’s a weirdo Her younger sister, a 27-year-old designer in New Jersey, is transgender. They both support Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate because they both believe in “human rights.” Their father, a first-generation Mexican immigrant, owns a business and would vote for Donald Trump “for the money.” The mother, who runs a business with her husband and is also the support of her two daughters, has not told her family who she will vote for. They are all US citizens.
Lewis is a painting contractor in Brunswick County, North Carolina. He is from Mexico and is not a citizen, but the rest of his family is American. They will all vote for Harris. Louis also employs several other Hispanic men. Some of them voted for Trump because they “had to wait their turn to go to work,” but they also resent the fact that today’s illegal immigrants are able to enter the country through broken borders.
Hispanics make up about 15% of the U.S. electorate. This community is itself very diverse and plays an important role in battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada. And while polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans supported Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, it is estimated that Hispanic support for Democratic candidates is declining. Support for Donald Trump has increased as well, although it may sound counterintuitive given the Republican Party’s hostility toward immigrants from the southern border.
The two stories of Grule and Louie contain stories of the complexities of Hispanic voting, with family members and colleagues grappling with internal contradictions about political choices.
A family divided by politics
Sitting outside a UPenn bookstore, Grule said the world changed in 2016 when President Trump was elected, even for high school students. “It’s created a rift within the country and made every conversation political.” Adding some deep insight, he added: those who believe in him. His presence narrows the room for discussion. ”
Mr. Gurule is also not a fan of Joe Biden, saying he would not have voted for him because he sees both men as reducing the US presidency to a “meme”. Although she was excited about Harris, Grull felt the outcome still would not resolve the fundamental rifts in the country. “Harris will be seen as the lesser of two evils, better than Trump, but she will not be celebrated for herself. Watch as Mexicans gather to celebrate their first female president. Please. We are not there.”
Asked if she noticed that men in her community were attracted to Trump, Gurule smiled and said, “My father.” why? “Business was good under the Trump administration. That’s true. We saw it. We benefited from it. My father owned a metals company. And when Biden took office, things got even tougher for him. He’s been very clear that this is important, and frankly, when it comes to economics. Surprisingly, her father doesn’t like President Trump. “Oh, he actually almost hates Trump. He just thinks it’s going to be better for us economically.”
do they argue? “Always,” Ms. Gurule said with a laugh, before opening up about her sexual identity. “I’m queer. My sister is transgender. One of my father’s own brothers is gay. Human rights are important to us. My father says he doesn’t believe in these identities. It took a while, but he accepted us and supported us. But he has made it clear that this is not for voting.” She said her mother overheard the conversation but did not tell her family which way she would vote. “She voted for Biden last time. She cares about bodily autonomy, but she doesn’t know what to do now.”
The Mexican-American student said his entire extended family, all of his father’s and mother’s siblings, were supporters of Mr. Harris, with the exception of one cousin. “He was a very religious person from an early age. He had a difficult upbringing and his grandmother raised him. He deliberately went to the University of Wyoming, the most conservative school in the country. He married his girlfriend when he was 18 because he wanted to “respect her.” She is currently pregnant. I don’t know why he became so conservative, but he is the only one in his family to vote for Trump. ”
working class disparity
Louis came from Mexico 25 years ago. Although his wife and two children are American, he remains a legal resident. His family and his broader base remain Democrats.
“Trump doesn’t want Hispanics. He doesn’t see us. We can feel it. We know it. He’s a racist.” Mr. Ruiz spoke days before Mr. Trump’s racist metaphor against Hispanics was deployed at his rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. Mr. Lewis, a painting contractor who oversaw workers finishing a painting job at New Brunswick Community College in North Carolina, said he wasn’t entirely sure about the legal status of all of his employees, but he said Trump was against Hispanic workers. In light of the president’s remarks, he said: I said they run the economy. “I put out a job posting on my company’s Facebook page, but no one came. It’s hard to get white people to do this job. I pay $20 an hour, which is a decent wage. But , they either don’t participate or they work for two days and quit. Who will work if the Hispanics are gone? Farmers will go bankrupt and construction work will stop. Who will run this economy? ”
Nevertheless, Louis said that after such a staunch defense of the value of community work, Democrats made a big mistake. “The border is out of control. People who came in legally are upset. Some of my own workers who came here illegally say they had to wait 15 years for a work permit. “Now people can walk in and get help. They’re then calling their relatives back home to come too. This is too much.” he said, adding that this doesn’t mean Trump was right. “There’s a way to treat people right. Trump doesn’t do that.”
Back in Pennsylvania, Grull said there is a growing sense, even among Harris voters’ families, that Democrats are mismanaging the border. “There’s a troubling duality there: we’re immigrants and we don’t like other people coming in. But the feeling is real.”
As with any voting bloc, Hispanic voters cannot be treated as homogeneous, as the stories of Mr. Grullet and Mr. Rui demonstrate. In fact, duality sometimes exists even within the minds of the same voters. It will be interesting to see how that translates to the voting booth, but like the rest of American society, the Hispanic community will grapple with issues of rights and sexuality, the economy and immigration, religion and physical autonomy as they decide the next president of the United States. I’m here.
