Latino voters swing towards Trump in election | Their biggest concern

ATLANTA - While the majority of Latino voters nationally and in Georgia voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, a greater share of Latino voters than ever voted for a Republican presidential candidate in this election. 

Organizers who mobilize Latino voters for both parties say the increased Latino support for republicans isn’t necessarily because they like former President Donald Trump or his rhetoric, but that they trust he’ll make the economy work better for them. 

"I've told voters that would call me and say, ‘Art, I don't like the man,’  and I said, ‘you don't have to like him, but you can like what he stands for,’" said Art Gallegos, President of Latinos Conservative Organization of Georgia.

He says that was a conversation he had often with voters leading up to this election. 

And he says the reason many still supported Trump was because for them he stood for a better economic future.  

"The number one priority why people came out and voted, especially in the Latino community, was the economy," Gallegos said. 

According to exit polls from the Associated Press, in the U.S., the majority of Latino voters, 55%, voted for Harris. 

While 42% of Latino voters went for President-elect Donald Trump.

 That’s a large increase from the 35% that voted for him in 2020 when he lost to President Joe Biden. 

 "The economy, jobs, inflation and the increased cost of just goods and services just basically dominated this election,"said Georgia State Senator Jason Anavitarte.

He says inflation during the Biden administration hit Latino families hard, causing them to want to make a change. 

 "I think a lot of them made the decision at the end of the day that Donald Trump is the person who's going to lead them to the American dream and not the Biden administration," Anavitarte said. 

But Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, Policy Director for the GALEO Impact Fund, says while the shift in Latino voter support to Trump nationally was significant, on a state level it was minimal.  

"It's undeniable that the Trump campaign saw some improvements, but from the exit polls I looked at, he saw an improvement of 1% with our community here in Georgia," Gomez-Leineweber said. 

He’s right.

In 2020, 41% of Latino voters in Georgia supported Trump, compared to 42% in this election. 

"Still a strong majority of Latino voters here in Georgia who voted went with Kamala Harris," he said. 

But Gomez-Leineweber says he sees this as frustrated with the way they’ve been living under the Biden administration and didn’t see Harris as a change from Biden. 

"People vote for change when they feel like the country is heading in the wrong direction," Gomez-Leineweber said. 

Gallegos and Anavitarte said other big issues that drew more support from Latino voters to Trump are public safety and crime and the border.