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While Latino voters generally have a negative view of socialism, a new NBC News/Telemundo Poll shows that their views on the subject vary by ideology, ancestry and more.
A plurality of registered Latino voters – 41% – express negative views on socialism, while only 23% view it positively. But the economic system enjoys more support among younger, more liberal Latino voters.
- Latino voters 18-39: 27% positive, 37% negative (-10)
- Latino voters 40+: 19% positive, 44% negative (-25)
- Latino Liberal voters: 39% positive, 26% negative (+13)
- Moderate Latino voters: 19% positive, 35% negative (-16)
- Conservative Latino voters: 8% positive, 64% negative (-56)
This split is also clear among voters in the Democratic presidential primary. Four in 10 voters who supported progressives such as Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in 2020 have positive views on socialism, while 13% have negative views (+27). But 27% of voters who backed President Joe Biden in the primary view socialism positively, while 40% view it negatively (-13).
While views on socialism are nuanced among Latino voters, overall negative sentiments around the economic system could help explain why Republicans have found some success among Latino voters in 2020.
A 2021 report by Democratic firm Equis Research found that four in 10 Latinos who voted in 2020 feared Democrats would embrace socialism.
The NBC News/Telemundo poll finds concerns about socialism were most pronounced in two states where Republicans made gains among Latino voters in 2020: Texas and Florida.
Latino voters in these two states hold more negative views of socialism, with margins of minus 26 points in Florida and minus 27 points in Texas, compared to their counterparts in California, where Latino voters give socialism a higher rating. net negative of 17%. points.
In Florida, Cuban voters are particularly influential, and voters of Cuban descent rate socialism much more negatively than voters of Mexican, Central American, or Puerto Rican descent. A majority of Cuban voters – 60% – have negative views on socialism, while 12% have positive views.
The NBC News/Telemundo Poll was conducted September 17-26 with 1,000 registered Latino voters, 75% of whom completed the survey in English and 25% in Spanish.
Respondents were contacted by landline, cellphone and SMS. And the poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
