NEW BRITAIN – In New Britain’s Barrio Latino, a predominantly Hispanic/Latino neighborhood, some men said they supported and planned to vote for Donald Trump, highlighting a microcosm of a recent trend in which, some commentators claim minorities are increasingly in favor of the former president.
Trump’s success among some Black and Latino men has seen an uptick this election cycle despite recent and past racist remarks targeting both demographics. Trump’s support among Hispanic and Latino men has increased since 2016, narrowing the margin between Kamala Harris to 19 %, and causing her overall support among Hispanics to drop below 60 %, according to a New York Times/Sienna College Poll.
New Britain’s Hispanic population is large, with over 44.3 % Hispanic and 13.3 % Black, according to the 2023 community numbers from the U.S. Census numbers. During the 2020 general election, 32.1% of New Britain voters supported Trump, according to the New York Times. With recent increased support among Latinos, Trump could see his numbers rise.
Mike Camp, 34, a Black and Latino New Britain resident, said that he had not voted before but was planning on voting for Trump this upcoming election, and was staunchly against progressive policies of the past administrations.
“The reason I don’t vote and why I’ve never voted is because I don’t believe in it,” Camp said, claiming campaign promises from candidates go unfulfilled.
Camp said he felt that the economy flourished more under Trump and said stimulus checks helped him during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I got three kids…two daughters and a son,” Camp said. “Clothes, food, I paid a couple months of rent. I got ahead so that when I started working, I was able to stay ahead. Since the stimulus checks, I’ve been good.”
Camp said that Trump was the first president that had helped him during a crisis that personally affected him. Among residents in Barrio Latino, money and the economy have been key issues since the pandemic.
Ruben Rodriguez, 36, a hospital worker, said he supported Trump but felt apprehensive and disconnected from both candidates as a member of the working class. He said that the class divide and socioeconomic gap between the candidates and the people was stark.
“They can never truly comprehend the things we go through or the things that we have lived,” Rodriguez said. “Can you live paycheck to paycheck every month or having to think about working overtime? They’ve never lived like that.”
Despite his support for Trump, Rodriguez said he condemns Trump’s remarks against minorities and wants Trump to earn his vote.
“What can you do that we don’t do for each other already,” Rodriguez said. “We probably do more for each other than you do for us.
Although performing historically well among Latinos, Trump’s recent Madison Square Garden rally, which included racist remarks from Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, could marginally impact on Latino voting. But for some Latino voters, remarks from Trump and his associates have no impact how they have voted.
Neto Garcia Rivera, a 63-year-old Puerto Rican resident of Barrio Latino, voted for Trump despite being aware of Trump’s racist history against Latinos, he said.
“I’ve voted for Trump already…but he’s wrong about Latinos,” Rivera said. “He calls us drug dealers, and other things, but at the end of the day, we still vote for him.”
Rivera said that he has struggled with securing housing and employment, making the economy a key issue for him. Like Camp, Rivera is part of a subset of Latino voters that think the economy and employment were better under Trump. For Latino voters, the economy was the top issue, and 29% said it would decide their vote, according to the New York Times/Sienna College poll.
Claudio Rosado, 25, a Puerto Rican CCSU student from Clinton, who plans to vote against Trump, said that a lack of education on candidate policies has affected how Latino’s have been voting this election cycle.
Although Trump’s polling numbers have reached historic highs among Latinos, Kamala Harris still has a significant lead with Latino voters in general, but is losing the edge with Latino men, and is just three points ahead of Trump at 46%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
For New Britain and Connecticut in general, the Latino and Hispanic population remains essential to the election, and Barrio Latino holds an essential piece of the puzzle in the state’s 5th congressional district.