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Harris, Trump Seek Latino Votes 10/22 06:28
Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump see economic policy as their best chance
to win Latino voters. But their approaches are very different.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump see economic policy
as their best chance to win Latino voters. But their approaches are very
different.
In an interview with Telemundo on Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Harris
plans to highlight how her agenda would create more opportunities for Latino
men -- a strategy born out of roughly a dozen focus groups and polling.
The Democratic nominee intends to show off her plans to double the number of
registered apprenticeships. She wants to stress how she would remove college
degree requirements for certain federal government jobs and encourage private
employers to do likewise. And Harris wants to provide forgivable loans worth up
to $20,000 each to 1 million small businesses.
Former President Trump, the Republican nominee, is making his own outreach
to Latinos on Tuesday by holding a roundtable with them in Doral, a Miami
suburb.
His campaign says he will make the case that employment, wages and home
ownership increased for Latinos during his time in office. The campaign also
says he will argue that Harris and President Joe Biden stuck Latinos with high
inflation and that "Trump is the only candidate who can bring prosperity back
to America."
The Trump and Harris campaigns see what could be an election-deciding
opportunity with Latino men, who could swing the outcome in states such as
Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada if their traditional support for Democrats
erodes. Trump believes he's made inroads among Latino men. Harris' team is
seeking to shore up support within the same group with the election just two
weeks away.
It sets up a question of whether memories of a Trump presidency or the
promise of new policies under Harris will do more to energize Latino voters.
"We are very confident that these policies resonate because we've seen them
resonate in speeches and focus groups," said Matt Barreto, a Harris campaign
pollster. "It speaks to Latino men in particular about being successful and
achieving the American dream."
Both campaigns are jockeying for an edge with the increasingly diverse
electorate in the closing weeks of the campaign. Harris has also focused on
Black men, to whom she also pitched the forgivable loans for small businesses.
She's gone on the podcast "Call Her Daddy" to appeal to younger women, while
Trump has appeared on podcasts to target younger men.
Trump participated in a town hall last week on Univision where his major
pitch to Latinos was that the economy had been phenomenal during his White
House term.
"We had the greatest economy in the history of our country," Trump said.
"Now we have a lousy economy primarily because of inflation. So we're going to
get rid of the inflation."
The former president's description of his own economic record typically
excludes the mass job losses and recession caused by the pandemic in 2020.
Inflation is now at a relatively healthy 2.4%, but frustration still lingers
for voters from inflation spiking in June 2022 at 9.1% as gasoline, groceries
and housing became much more expensive.
On Univision, Trump said increased oil production would bring down overall
inflation if he was elected. He has also suggested his combination of tariff
hikes and tax cuts will help growth, though his campaign lacks details compared
to the policy guide released by Harris' team.
In a close race, the Harris campaign is betting that Latino men are getting
more attuned to policy specifics as the election draws closer.
Based on focus groups, Barreto said the Harris campaign found that Latino
men in particular wanted access to apprenticeships that could give people
without college degrees access to a financially stable career.
The latest Labor Department figures show there are 641,044 registered
apprenticeships, an increase from the Trump administration, when
apprenticeships peaked in 2020 at 569,311. Doubling that figure as Harris has
proposed would put the total number of apprenticeships at roughly 1.2 million
over four years.
Latino men also expressed a need for access to capital and credit to start
companies, as the Treasury Department reported on Oct. 10 that Latino business
ownership is up 40% over pre-pandemic levels and could keep climbing with
better financing options.
Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will be on Univision's El
Bueno, La Mala, y El Feo, a syndicated radio show, this week, while Harris'
husband, Doug Emhoff, will be interviewed this week by Univision's nationally
syndicated afternoon radio show, El Free-Guey Show. Emhoff will also be
interviewed by Alex "El Genio" Lucas on Nueva Network Radio.
Trump hopes to convince Latinos that they can trust a fellow businessman
such as himself, even as he's also called for the mass deportation of
immigrants in the country illegally.
"Hispanic people -- they say you can't generalize, but I think you can --
they have wonderful entrepreneurship and they have -- oh, do you have such
energy. Just ease up a little bit, OK? Ease up," Trump said at an Oct. 12
event. "You have great ambition, you have great energy, very smart, and you
really do like natural entrepreneurs."
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