Rising prices are pressuring Democrats’ overall standing with voters, including key Hispanic demographics in places like Colorado according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
The poll released March 11 was rather dismal for Democrats overall.
Biden’s approval sunk to 15 points underwater, while respondents said they preferred a generic Republican candidate for Congress over a Democrat 46-41.
However, by a staggering 9 point margin, Hispanic voters said they preferred a generic Republican to Democrat congressional candidate.
That’s a 9 point shift from November, when Hispanic voters in the same poll were evenly split on Republicans and Democrats.
Inflation is the number one reason why.
The WSJ quoted an independent Hispanic poll respondent from Montrose who said inflation has made him more open to backing Republicans this year.
Poll participant David Romero, a 47-year-old probation supervisor who considers himself an independent voter and lives in Montrose, Colo., said he was more open to Republicans this year, in part because of inflation.
“Heating bills are astronomical here,” said Mr. Romero, a Latino who estimates it has cost at least an extra $80 a month to heat his single-family home this winter.
Price pressures are a particularly acute problem in Colorado overall, where the pace of inflation exceeds national averages.
The poll’s findings could be a pretty serious problem for Democrats in 2022 because Colorado is one of several western states where Hispanic turnout is expected to jump.
Of 11 battleground states, three — Arizona, Nevada and Colorado — should see a jump in their Hispanic turnout, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund projected.
Arizona will see a 9.6 percent increase in Latino voters; in Colorado, the jump should be 8.9 percent, and in Nevada, 5.8 percent, according to NALEO’s analysis.
Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District that encompasses Adams and the energy-rich Weld County has a 38.5% Latino population.
Mike Stratton, a 50-year veteran of Democratic politics, told Newsweek in February that if Colorado’s 8th becomes a referendum on inflation, Democrats can kiss that race goodbye.
“If Republicans turn out their suburban and exurban base on issues like inflation and don’t get into stupid cultural wars, if they reduce the race to kitchen table issues, they have a huge advantage.”