Hispanics are running away from Democrats. Bidenomics is making things even worse
The biggest story of Hispanic Heritage Month, which began last Friday, is that Hispanics are coming home to the Republican Party.
Earlier this month, the New York Times published a bombshell article headlined “Consistent Signs of Erosion in Black and Hispanic Support for Biden.” The piece chronicles the ongoing political migration among minorities, especially Hispanics, from Democrats to Republicans. It highlights twelve “high-quality” 2024 election polls that show Biden holds a mere 50% to 40% lead among Hispanic voters. That’s down significantly from the 65% of Hispanics who voted for him in 2020.
This polling destroys the media narrative that Republicans are a racist party. It debunks Democrats’ Great Replacement theory, which posits that America’s increasing number of minorities and immigrants will inevitably generate an enduring Democrat majority.
I’ve chronicled this rightward shift among Hispanics for the past several years, and it’s only picking up steam as Latinos continue to be the biggest victims of Bidenomics.
Last Tuesday, the Census Bureau announced that real median nation incomes declined significantly in 2022 due to Bidenflation. The pain of falling living standards is especially acute for Hispanics, who earn far less than average Americans. What a contrast to 2017 to 2019, when Hispanics’ real median household incomes rose by $6,710 due to the Trump economic boom.
Consider how Bidenomics disproportionately hurts Hispanics. Who is more impacted by the 17% inflation since Biden took office: Hispanic food service workers or white yuppies? Who feels greater pain from $5 a gallon gas: Hispanic transportation workers or the work-from-home laptop class? And who is impacted more by Democrats’ opposition to school choice: the Hispanic family who has to live wherever they can find an affordable apartment or the suburbanites who can choose their zip code based on its schools? No wonder Hispanics are migrating to the Republican Party.
Another reason for this shift: Hispanics are disproportionately entrepreneurial and Republicans are the pro-entrepreneurship party. Earlier this year, I wrote a book arguing that greater entrepreneurship can overcome the nation’s racial economic divides.
In fact, entrepreneurship is already closing racial wealth and income gaps. The ratio between white and Hispanic household wealth declined from 8:1 in 2013 to 5:1 in 2019 as Hispanic entrepreneurship skyrocketed before stalling due to COVID and Bidenomics. The median net worth of self-employed Hispanics is $174,920, and the median net worth of self-employed Hispanics with business equity is $314,280, meaning Hispanic entrepreneurs already make far more than average whites.
Expanding entrepreneurship through pro-small business public policy can help Hispanics overcome racial and economic divides through their own hard work even faster. Republican pro-growth policies, such as sound money, tax cuts, cheap energy, and deregulation, make it easier for Hispanics to start and grow their businesses.
Republicans can accelerate their growing support among Hispanics by doubling down on their pro-entrepreneurship bona fides. One immediate step they can take is changing the party’s crusty old name from the Grand Old Party to the Great Opportunity Party, which better reflects and projects their platform.
Republicans can also pursue legislation that implements Job Creators Network’s American Small Business Prosperity Plan. This eight-step pro-growth policy playbook will make it easier for Hispanics and all Americans to live the American Dream.
Hispanics are finally realizing that Republicans have much more in common with our heritage than Democrats.
Alfredo Ortiz is president and CEO of Job Creators Network, author of “The Real Race Revolutionaries,” and co-host of “The Main Street Matters” podcast.