How Latinos found Evangelicalism and Trump
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Why do Hispanics support Trump?
First of all, Hispanics love Trump.
They do.
What explains the Latino vote shift?
In the wake of the last election, much was made about the so-called, quote unquote, Latino vote. One of the very important keys to Donald Trump's victory was getting a larger share of votes from Latinos. Historically, Latino voters have leaned blue, but this election saw a major shift, with more Latinos than ever voting for Trump. And while this left many pundits puzzled, there's a growing movement that might explain why some Latinos are finding a new home on the right.
Latino Evangelicals.
Who are Latino Evangelicals?
That service you hear is being led by Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Pastor Rodriguez is just one of a growing number of church leaders looking to the Latino community to grow his flock.
Over the last 20 years, white evangelicals have gone from being nearly a quarter of the U.S. population to only 13. And so it's been in that period of white evangelical decline that really, frankly, by necessity, they tried to look, well, where else can we find members?
You've also had a movement in Latin America and the United States where evangelical charismatic Christians has been very aggressive in the community in recruiting new members.
How is the Republican Party courting Latino voters?
My guests, Robert P. Jones from the Public Religion Research Institute. Great to be here. And Axios justice and race reporter Russell Contreras. Good to be with you. Have been following this shift for a while. Now, let's be clear. No group is a monolith. And the reasons behind these demographic shifts are nuanced, to say the least. But Robert and Russell have noticed some links between the Republican Party and the emerging evangelical movement.
Some groups are aligned with Republican parties, right-leaning groups, and they can get voting lists. So they can say, okay, let's go to this neighborhood where people have around this income, and let's go to those Latinos or these Spanish surnames who are politically unaffiliated, they refuse to state. Those are ripe for picking.
And they have questions about why the evangelical movement has chosen this moment to court its new members.
Not to be too cynical about it, but why are the doors flying open among many white evangelical churches to Latinos when in the past they've not been open?
Today, Robert and Russell break down what's at the root of this shift and what it means for our political future. When we talk about Latino evangelicals, what does that group actually look like? They're fairly fluid.
I'm thinking in terms of politics. For example, Latinos as a whole are not as tightly tied to partisan identity as, let's say, white Americans are. So there's a lot more of a fluid situation. But Latino Protestants in particular have been moving toward the Republican Party over the last 10 years. If you look between 2013 and 2023, the percentage of Latino Protestants who identifies as Republican has more than doubled. Oh, wow. It went from 17% to 37%. And that's a really different picture than, say, among Latino Catholics, among whom 44% are Democrats rather than Republicans.
You know, that's so interesting because when I think of Latinos in America, I usually think of the Catholic Church. But I read that as of 2022, only 43% of US Hispanic adults identified as Catholic. And that number is down quite a bit from 67% in 2010. And it looks like this turn to evangelism is part of that decline.
And we also see them when the denominations. So where you see a large growth among evangelicals, it's among the Assembly of God, Pentecostals. Yeah, that's right. Baptists, right? Even the LDS. They're going toward these charismatic Christian groups. And I would also say one thing that really is drawing them is when Latinos get older, they get married, and they want to stay in the Catholic Church. They have to go through all the processes that we all did. Baptizing children, bringing up documents. Yeah.
There's a lot of steps.
Evangelicals offer a one-step shop saying, no, just jump into this pool and be baptized and have a born-again experience where everybody's cheering you on.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do Hispanics support Trump?
0:12–0:24
2
What explains the Latino vote shift?
0:24–1:03
3
Who are Latino Evangelicals?
1:03–1:46
4
How is the Republican Party courting Latino voters?
1:46–5:56
5
What is the significance of charismatic churches?
5:56–10:05
6
How does Americanization play a role in this shift?
10:05–13:18
7
What are the implications of the prosperity gospel?
13:18–14:56
8
How is the Latino Evangelical community evolving?
14:56–18:15