Elections in the United States: What impact will Hispanic Catholics have?

With a record number of Hispanic Americans set to be eligible to vote this November, many are wondering what impact Latinos, and Latino Catholics in particular, will have on the 2024 US elections.

Several Hispanic Catholic experts explored this question Monday night at a panel discussion hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life (Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life) at Georgetown University, Washington DC (United States).

While acknowledging the great diversity of culture and thought among American Hispanic communities, the panelists posited that the general values ​​of family, faith and care for the poor will be an important factor in Latinos’ decisions at the polls this November.

“We’re big on family, on family values…We want to be welcoming and very attentive to the needs of others,” said Lia Garcia, one of the panelists and director of Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

“We have big parties, we eat a lot of food,” he added with a laugh. “Everyone is invited to our meetings, so our faith teaches us that we are meant to be in communion in relationship with God and in relationship with each other.”

Hispanics don’t fit in a box

Speaking with EWTN News’ CNA after the panel, García said that in his work with Hispanic Catholics, he has heard “a lot of anxiety about what is going to happen” and “about who is going to win” the presidency.

He said many Hispanic voters “feel trapped” between the conflicting priorities of Trump and Harris.

“They feel like they have to choose between the issue of abortion and the defense of immigrants,” he said. “Latin Catholics are very pro-life. That can be seen in our large families. But they are also concerned about immigration issues. Although immigration does not affect them directly because they are now documented, but they know someone, they know a family member, they know a colleague… it is really terrifying for people how Latinos are portrayed to the rest of the world as criminals.”

Hispanic voters have historically favored Democrats in national and local elections. The panelists noted, however, that Republicans have done better with Latinos in recent elections and polls, lending credence to predictions that the Hispanic vote is no longer a monolith.

Recent surveys of Hispanics support this theory. Newsweek reported this week that while Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris continues to lead among Hispanics by a wide margin, 56% to 38%, her lead has narrowed from Joe Biden’s 59% in 2020 and even further from 66%. % that Hillary Clinton had in 2016.

Instead of party loyalty, panelists said Hispanics seem motivated primarily by their family values ​​and concern for the poor and oppressed.

Father Agustino Torres, a priest with the New York-based Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said that in his ministry with Latino youth he has witnessed that Hispanic youth “have this fire” to care for the oppressed, especially to poor migrants.

“Sometimes we are Catholic Americans instead of American Catholics. “We allow our politics to inform our faith instead of our faith informing our politics,” Father Torres said. “But this is the reality: I am responsible for you and you are responsible for me. If I see someone fall on the sidewalk, I am bound by my baptism, and this is a good thing… This is the Gospel.”

“When we teach this, they just say, ‘Yes,’ and it brings their worlds together, their family, their faith, outreach,” he said.

To be clear, like most Americans, U.S. Hispanics are more concerned about the economy. EWTN published a survey of American Catholics in September that found that the majority of the country’s Hispanic Catholics, 56.8%, said the economy (including jobs, inflation and interest rates) is the most important issue they decide your vote in this electoral cycle.

The next highest priorities were border security/immigration at 10.5%, abortion at 9.7%, health care at 5.3%, and climate change at 5%.

However, according to panelist Santiago Ramos, a Catholic philosopher at the Aspen Institute, even when it comes to their approach to economic issues, Hispanics do not fit easily into the political right or left.

Ramos said Hispanics defy “nationalist and right-wing” and progressive categorizations.

“There is a community aspect to our existence, a family-oriented, dare I call it a socially conservative aspect to our existence that does not always fit with conventional liberal institutions,” he explained. “So there are all kinds of ways we show up in American politics and force people to see things they don’t want to see.”

Among new voters, Hispanics occupy a prominent place

Aleja Hertzler-McCain, a reporter on Latino faith and American Catholicism for Religion News Service, noted that half of the new voters who have been eligible to vote since 2020 are Hispanic.

According to the Pew Research Centerthere will be 36.2 million eligible Hispanic voters this year, nearly 4 million more than in 2020. While noting that U.S. Hispanics have historically had low voter turnout, Hertzler said the large volume of new Hispanic voters could have a “big impact” on the elections.

Whatever the outcome of the election, Garcia said she is “really excited” to see the Hispanic community making its voice heard in the democratic process.

“I can’t wait to see that. “I’m very excited about the election for that particular reason,” she said.

“The beauty of our culture,” García continued, “is that we can draw from our own experiences growing up with big families, big celebrations, and also with our faith that leads us to relate to each other. And I think that’s where we can feel how (concern for) the common good is not only something that comes from God, but it also comes from our culture.”

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.