[Financial News] A significant share of U.S. Latino voters have turned their backs on President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. According to a poll conducted by NBC and Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo on the 4th (local time), 59% of respondents chose the Democratic Party and 35% chose the Republican Party when asked, "Which party would you like to control Congress?" This represents a gap roughly twice as wide as the Democratic Party's 13-percentage-point lead over the Republican Party in a poll conducted at the same point ahead of the 2024 presidential election, when the figures were 54% and 42%, respectively. Latino support played a major role in President Trump's return to office. Latino support for the Republican Party ahead of presidential or midterm elections rose from 21% in 2016 to 33% in 2022 and 42% in 2024. Latino support for the Republican Party fell 7 percentage points from 2024 Latinos, or Americans of Latin American origin, are often used interchangeably with Hispanics, a term for people from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, and account for about 16% of all voters. Although they tend to favor the Democratic Party, they are classified as "swing voters" because their political preferences change from election to election. Compared with 2024, Latino support for the Republican Party fell 7 percentage points this year. NBC explained that the decline reflected growing resentment toward President Trump's performance in office. Only 27% of Latino voters approved of President Trump's performance in office. That is lower than the approval ratings in the 30%-plus range recorded for Trump among all voters in various polls. Respondents expressed the strongest opposition to Trump's performance on cost-of-living concerns, represented by high prices (78%), and economic policy (74%). They also disapproved of his immigration policy (69%) and foreign policy (68%). Even border security, which received the most favorable assessment, drew more disapproval (58%) than approval. These figures were higher than the disapproval rates for then-President Joe Biden's handling of the cost of living (60%) and economic policy (54%) ahead of the 2022 midterm elections under his administration. In other words, Latino voters' desire to punish the governing party over economic issues has grown. About two-thirds of respondents also said the Trump administration's enforcement of immigration laws was excessive. While 83% favored deporting undocumented immigrants who had committed serious crimes, only 37% supported deporting all undocumented immigrants. Latino voter share highest in New Mexico (43%), California (33%) and Texas (32%) These sentiments are expected to affect election results in states with large Latino voter populations. According to the Pew Research Center, the Latino share of voters is highest in New Mexico (43%), followed by California (33%), Texas (32%), Arizona (25%), Florida (23%) and Nevada (22%). Texas, in particular, has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but its Senate race is considered competitive this time. Several House districts with large Latino populations emerged in Texas and Florida during the 2024 election, and NBC noted that the likelihood of those House seats flipping from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party has increased. However, the findings also showed why Democrats cannot be entirely optimistic about the midterm elections. The Democratic Party may benefit from the backlash against Trump, but public evaluations of the party itself remain lackluster. In the poll, 42% of Latino voters expressed an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, up 4 percentage points from the 2024 presidential election. Regarding the democratic socialism (DSA) line within the Democratic Party, unfavorable views far outweighed favorable ones, at 41% versus 13%. The poll surveyed 800 registered Latino voters through a combination of telephone interviews and an online survey conducted from the 21st to the 28th of last month. The margin of error was ±3.5 percentage points. [email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter