President Trump highlighted the economic gains of Hispanics from his policies during a speech to Hispanic business leaders on Wednesday as he continues his aggressive outreach to minority voters.
“Under the booming Trump economy, Latinos are achieving record gains,” Mr. Trump said at the annual Latino Coalition’s legislative summit in Washington. “We have created 3 million new jobs for Hispanic-Americans. Hispanic-American unemployment has fallen to the lowest rate ever recorded.”
The president said his administration’s agenda of low taxes and low regulation “is delivering remarkable opportunity and security to millions of hardworking Hispanic-American families.”
“Nearly 40 million Hispanic-Americans live in households benefiting from our expansion of the child tax credit — providing an extra $2,000 yearly for the average family of four,” the president said.
While a strong majority of Hispanic voters still favor Democrats, the president received 30% support from Hispanics in a Pew Research Center poll last month — slightly higher than the 28% who supported him in 2016. In November, a record 32 million Hispanic Americans are expected to be eligible to vote, topping for the first time the number of black eligible voters.
The president referred to the construction of his border wall, and said it’s one reason he’s doing relatively well with Hispanic voters.
“You know who wants the wall more than anybody else? The Hispanics,” Mr. Trump said. “They get it. They’re here, they want to be safe, and they know some of the people coming across are not the people that you want to be with. They understand the border better than anybody, and they want a safe border. It’s been a great relationship that I’ve had with Hispanic Americans.”
But Mario Carrillo, campaigns manager for the liberal immigration reform group America’s Voice, said the Super Tuesday primaries across the nation showed that Hispanics are motivated to turn out against the president this year.
“Last night and throughout the early primary states, Latino voters have shown that they are tired of the cruelty of the last four years,” she said. “Both in Texas and California, as well as Latino communities in North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Colorado and elsewhere, Latinos made their voices heard ahead of what will be one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime.”
