Miami Latino voters aren’t a guarantee for the GOP in the midterms | Opinion
President Donald Trump is hemorrhaging Latino voters. A CNN poll released this week found Trump’s approval rating among Latinos was 22%, down 19 points from last February. That’s a problem for Republicans.
In Miami-Dade County, the Latino vote helped Trump win a second term in 2024. Many were drawn to his promises to tackle kitchen table issues and believed he would solve the immigration crisis. But Trump’s second term hasn’t delivered the way his base had hoped. And his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night was a chance to address top concerns — affordability and the economy. He fell short.
Trump opened by saying that America has ushered in the “the golden age of America” and claimed inflation was coming down. But for Miami families who are still struggling to buy groceries and make ends meet, his claims didn’t seem to match reality.
It’s easy to see why Trump’s support is slipping. But Miami may be different. At a watch party for the State of the Union speech hosted by the Miami-Dade GOP Tuesday, there wasn’t much evidence of erosion of Trump support among Hispanic voters. Naturally, those who attended the event were Trump supporters. Still, Venezuelans there cast Trump as the liberator of their country for his capture of leader Nicolás Maduro. Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement, a big concern among Latino voters nationally, didn’t seem to make much of a dent.
That’s in spite of local cases, such as the one involving Wayne DeMario, owner of Wayne’s Guitar World in Miami-Dade County and his fiancé, Yamile Alcantu, who came to the U.S. from Cuba 25 years ago.
They were big Trump supporters but Alcantu was detained eight months ago. She had been under a deportation order since 2008, WPLG Local 10 News reported. DeMario is afraid she’ll be sent back to the communist island.
“I really thought this was just going to be something more organized, but it’s obviously not,” he told Local 10, about Trump’s deportations. “They just blanket everybody.”
At the watch party, some folks thought Trump was doing a good job, but wanted him to do more. Others held onto the hope that there’s still time in his presidency to deliver on campaign promises. Maybe so, but the midterms are coming. Trump’s speech sounded less like a roadmap to address American’s concerns and more like an infomercial on accomplishments that many voters aren’t feeling.
According to the CNN poll, 34% of people think Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important issues — a concern that isn’t confined to party lines. Even among Republicans, Trump’s approval rating has dropped eight points — down from 90% — since last year’s address to Congress. The 19-point drop among Latinos should be a five-alarm fire inside the GOP.
Yet in Miami, Republican leaders I’ve spoken with don’t seem worried. I’m skeptical. Voters aren’t patient when it comes to their wallets. They want relief now, not reassurances.
Miami may be the exception — Trump won Miami-Dade in 2024 with over 50% of the vote — and the enthusiasm inside the GOP watch party Tuesday night was real. But that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story or reflect the sentiment of the county.
Trump promised relief. If Republicans wants to keep the Latino vote, they need to deliver tangible results on the economy and affordability now — not tomorrow. Florida Republicans know this lesson well. Miami-Dade wasn’t always red — and it isn’t guaranteed to stay that way.
Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com