LAWRENCE, Mass. — The trend of Latino voters shifting right in the presidential election played out across the nation, including six Massachusetts communities.
Latinos, now the second-largest voting group, showed up for Donald Trump in historic numbers.
Lawrence, Lynn, Everett, Chelsea, Holyoke, and Springfield – the communities with the largest Latino populations in the state - saw the margin of victory for Democrats drop by 18 points from the last election.
Lawrence, where Latinos make up 82% of the city’s population, saw the winning margin for Democrats drop by more than 30 points from 2020.
“I think the Latino people support Donald Trump because we need change, and we need a better economy,” said Henry Depena, who owns a beauty salon in Lawrence. “We work for a better quality of life, and we don’t get that.”
National exit polls show Vice President Kamala Harris finished with 53%of support from Hispanic voters across the country.
Donald Trump received 45% of the Latino vote, a 13-point increase from 2020.
“I was praying he was going to be the winner. I was happy. I was crying,” said Jose Nova, who lives in Boston.
Nova, who resides in a predominantly Latino housing community in the South End, moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was 19.
He said many Latinos are desperate for a better economy and believe Trump can bring that to America.
He said Trump’s conservative values are also appealing.
“We are religious people. We want a government with Christian values,” he said. “We are Latino. We come from that background.”
Trump’s share of the Latino vote is just higher than the 44% share won by Republican George W. Bush in 2004.
The trend of Hispanic populations pulling support away from Democrats caught the attention of MassINC Polling, a public research firm based in Boston.
“The biggest example we have is in our most Latino city, Lawrence,” said Senior Research Director Rich Parr. “Kamala Harris won Lawrence by only 59 percent of the vote.”
Parr said exit polls and returns point to a clear pattern happening in Latino communities.
“The more Latino the precinct within that city is, the bigger this drop off is that’s happening,” he explained. “The Democrats are going to have to find a new formula in order to get through to winning a majority again.”
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