UnidosUS, Mi Familia Vota Discuss New Polling Results That Outline the Priorities of Texas’ Hispanic Voters

Results Represent Major Shift In Salient Issues To Latino Voters 

WASHINGTON, DC – UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, and Mi Familia Vota, a national civic engagement organization, today held a briefing to outline the priorities of Texas’ Hispanic voters. The results show a significant shift in some of the top issues among Latino voters: 

• Inflation and jobs are the #1 and #3 priorities, findings that track with long-standing Latino concerns about the economy. Health care is the fourth priority. 
• Notably, crime/gun violence rose to #2, driven by concerns about easy access to guns and school shootings.  
• For the first time, abortion is among the top five issues nationally, and 75% of Texas’ Latino voters believe it should remain legal, no matter their own personal beliefs on the issue. 
• While immigration is not among the top five issues, Latino voters believe strongly that leaders in Washington should provide a path to citizenship, or in the absence of Congressional action, the president should take executive action. 

• A majority of Texas’ Latino voters (61%) believe the country is on the wrong track. At the moment, 55% of Hispanic voters in Texas say they are 100 percent certain they will vote in November. 
• Overall, 79% of Texas’ Latino voters say it is personally important to them (57% very important) for elected officials and other leaders to speak out against white nationalism and white supremacy 

You can view a more in depth deck outlining topline results here, and a chart with Latino voter data in competitive districts here. 

Clarissa Martinez De Castro, UnidosUS Vice President of the Latino Vote Initiative said:  

“As the second largest voting group in Texas, Hispanics voters can be a powerful stabilizing force in state and national politics and are sending a wake-up call to both parties, whose chronic under-engagement with this electorate continues. In a period that has brought the shock of Uvalde on top of the lingering memory of the El Paso massacre, restrictions on women’s rights, and climate-related destruction, it is not surprising to see those issues rising dramatically on the list of Hispanic voter priorities. Pocket book issues and jobs continue to be among the top concerns, including health care affordability, with 80% of Hispanic voters supporting Medicaid expansion, which if the state accepted available federal funds to do, would benefit up to 1.5 million uninsured adults in Texas, including 1.1 million uninsured Latino parents. Overall, Hispanic voters reject extremes and taking rights away from people – eight in ten Hispanic voters want elected officials and leaders to speak out against White supremacy, and majorities would oppose candidates who are supported by White supremacists or who support a complete ban on abortions.” 

Angelica Razo, Mi Familia Vota Texas Director  

 “Mi Familia Vota is committed to building Latino political power in Texas. Our community is engaged and fired up to participate in the electoral process. 74% of Latinos surveyed in Texas said they are likely to vote in the 2022 midterms. We are working in the community, educating and training Latinos to vote. This poll also confirms that Climate Change is a critical issue to our voters, and we will ensure that our community is educated about the threats of climate change. This year we will ensure that politicians are held accountable to our policy priorities.” 

Gary Segura, Ph.D., President and co-founder of BSP Research 

“So long as a state as large as Texas remains on the frontlines of Latino political mobilization, we will be focused on how that population sees the political world and acts. No matter the degree of gerrymandering and voter suppression, Latino voters can and will make a greater and greater difference over time. That such extraordinary efforts are taken to keep these citizens away from the ballot box is important evidence that their views could be critical to changing Texas.” 

The poll was released as part of a multi-state, multi-year partnership between UnidosUS and Mi Familia Vota, which together represents the most powerful Latino civic engagement and democracy operation in the country. In 2022, UnidosUS and Mi Familia Vota will execute an extensive, $15 million civic engagement effort working with Hispanic voters in eight states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Among other elements, this year’s campaign will include:  

• Registering over 100,000 voters.  
• Reaching out to a universe of nearly 2 million voters we connected within 2020, with a specifically focusing on preventing voter drop-off from 2020.  
• Providing research and data on the perspectives and priorities of Hispanic voters.  
• Hosting candidate forums in multiple states with high-profile statewide elections.  
• Providing voters with information on policy issues and voting access.  

Significantly, the long-term partnership aims to break the boom-and-bust cycle of traditional electoral engagement; building sustained participation ecosystems that connect electoral engagement, policy advocacy, and community services, recognizing and building upon existing community assets and infrastructure. The two organizations will strengthen the connective tissue among those tracks between now and 2024.  

About the survey 

• Total N=2,750 Latino eligible voters 
• N=2,540 registered voters 
• N=210 eligible, but not registered voters 
• Margin of error +/- 1.9% 
• Field dates: July 20 – August 1, 2022 
• English or Spanish, according to preference 
• Mixed mode: 75% online, 25% live telephone interviews. 

About UnidosUS  

UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR (National Council of La Raza), is the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. Through its unique combination of expert research, advocacy, programs, and an Affiliate Network of nearly 300 community-based organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico, UnidosUS simultaneously challenges the social, economic, and political barriers that affect Latinos at the national and local levels. For more than 50 years, UnidosUS has united communities and different groups seeking common ground through collaboration, and that share a desire to make our country stronger. For more information on UnidosUS, visit unidosus.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   

About Mi Familia Vota  

Mi Familia Vota is a national civic engagement organization that unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice through citizenship workshops, voter registration, and voter participation. Mi Familia Vota has operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Texas.  

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