Ahead of Super Tuesday Primary, Rising Cost of Living and Wages Top of Mind for North Carolina Latino Voters

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Heading into Super Tuesday, UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, is highlighting data on North Carolina’s Hispanic electorate, part of the largest national poll of Hispanic voters this cycle. North Carolina represents more than 5% of the citizen voting-age population in this competitive state and Latinos play a decisive role in multiple contests at the local, state and federal levels.  The poll results show top-of-mind issues for North Carolina’s Latino voters are cost of living and wages. 

“With the margin of victory for the 2020 presidential election at only 1.3 percentage points, candidates would be well advised to engage with and address the top concerns of this electorate” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, Vice President of the UnidosUS Latino Vote Initiative. “In 2020 almost 90% of registered Latinos in the state voted, and in 2024 nearly one in four Latino voters will be voting in a presidential election for the very first time, putting an exclamation point on the need for effective outreach.” 

Full results of the poll are available in the UnidosUS Hispanic Electorate Data Hub, a newly released multidimensional platform that provides data and insights on this electorate spanning the last two decades. The following outlines key findings on North Carolina’s Hispanic electorate. 

On The Issues:  

  • Economy: Four of the top five concerns for North Carolina’s Hispanic voters are dominated by economic and pocketbook issues, specifically inflation and the rising cost of living, jobs, affordable housing, and healthcare. 
  • Gun violence: Remains among the top five issues.  
  • Abortion: 72% of North Carolina’s Latino voters continue to oppose efforts to make it illegal or to take that decision away from others, no matter their own personal beliefs on the issue.  
  • Immigration: Immigration remains a priority issue in North Carolina (ranked as sixth top issue). Providing a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and other immigrants with long-standing ties in the country are the two big policies Latino voters want to see advanced on this issue.  

On Voting: 

  • In 2024, 24% of North Carolina’s Latinos will be voting in a presidential election for the first time.  
  • 39% of North Carolina’s Hispanic electorate is composed of new voters since Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in 2016.