Latino Voters Sound the Alarm Ahead of 2026
- Voces Unidas de las Montañas
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
Voces Unidas joined UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in a virtual national press conference today to release new findings from The Bipartisan Poll of Hispanic Voters: The Road to 2026, the most comprehensive national survey of Latino voters ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Conducted by BSP Research and Shaw & Company Research, the bipartisan poll surveyed 3,000 registered Latino voters with oversamples in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. The data offers one of the clearest pictures to date of how Latino voters are feeling about the direction of the country, the economy, immigration, and leadership in Washington.
According to the poll, 81% of Latino voters believe Congress is failing to fulfill its constitutional role of checks and balances, while nearly two-thirds (62%) disapprove of how the Republican Party is leading Congress. A majority (61%) blame Republicans for the ongoing federal government shutdown — compared to just 22% who blame Democrats. The data also shows that 64% disapprove of President Trump’s job performance, and among those who voted for him, one in five say they wouldn’t do so again.
UnidosUS President Janet Murguía said the poll confirms what her organization has been hearing directly from families and community leaders across the country. “Our poll confirms what we have been hearing from our community over the past few months,” Murguía said. “The economy and the cost of living continue to be top of mind. Like most Americans, Hispanics are deeply dissatisfied and angered by the failure of President Trump and the Congressional majority to address key issues such as the rising price of food, housing, and health care.”
Murguía added that Latino voters are not only frustrated by economic conditions but also alarmed by growing threats to civil rights, safety, and family stability. “Two-thirds of Latinos believe that the administration and Congress have not done enough on economic issues,” she said. “Our community feels that civil rights and liberties are threatened, and that their own safety and that of their loved ones are at risk.”
Clarissa Martínez De Castro, Vice President of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS, explained that the poll’s purpose goes beyond a single election cycle. “Latinos are now the second-largest voting-age population in the U.S., yet there continue to be a lot of misconceptions and mistaken assumptions about these voters,” Martínez said. “That’s why we conduct very robust polls with bipartisan teams and make all cross-tabs available — so that policymakers, journalists, and researchers can see real data, not stereotypes.”
Joining the conversation from his office in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Voces Unidas President and CEO Alex Sánchez brought a rural perspective to the national conversation. Voces Unidas, through the Colorado Latino Agenda (CLA) in partnership with COLOR, collaborated with UnidosUS to ensure that Colorado’s Latino voters were represented in the national dataset.
“One year out from the midterm elections, the data reflects what many of us who live and work in rural America already know,” Sánchez said. “Latino voters are engaged and paying attention to who is delivering real results on the issues that matter most — the cost of living, wages, housing, and health care.”
Sánchez said the findings mirror what Voces Unidas sees every day in Colorado’s mountain and rural communities. “At Voces Unidas, we see this reality every day — as we engage rural voters, organize members of our communities, and connect families to resources across the Western Slope,” he said. “And we know this experience isn’t unique to Colorado. Partners in many other states are seeing the same challenges — and the same determination — in their own rural Latino communities.”
As attention shifts toward 2026, the data and voices behind this national poll tell a clear story: Latino voters are more engaged, more aware, and more determined to shape the future of the country. As Sánchez put it, “Rural America is changing, and Latinos are driving that change. The future of rural America is deeply connected to the Latino experience, and that future is already taking shape.”
The Colorado Latino Agenda, in collaboration with UnidosUS and BSP Research, will release the Colorado-specific poll findings this Thursday via Zoom with Dr. Gary Segura of BSP Research. The state-level data will provide a closer look at Latino voter sentiment in Colorado — including the rural and regional perspectives shaping the 2026 midterm elections.
Key findings from the national poll:
On Issues and Economic Landscape
Four of the top five priorities for Hispanic voters continue to be driven by pocketbook issues:
#1 Cost of living/inflation (53%) — Cost of food and basic living expenses, housing affordability, gas prices and electricity bills.
#2 Jobs and economy (36%) — Wages, job security, prices and job creation.
#3 Housing (32%) — Rising cost of rent and cost of electricity, utilities, taxes, home insurance, home maintenance/repairs and lack of affordable housing.
#4 Health care (30%) — Rising health care costs, monthly premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
#5 Immigration (20%) — Path to citizenship for law-abiding, long-residing undocumented individuals; safe and humane facilities for those in detention; giving people their day in court.
Compared to last year, 39% feel their economic situation is worse now; only 14% say they are doing better. Looking ahead to next year, 50% believe the Trump administration’s economic policies will make them worse off.
65% believe President Trump and Congressional Republicans are not focusing enough on improving the economy, a 5% increase since April 2025.
On the Political Landscape and Environment
Views on parties: 55% say the Democratic Party cares a great deal about the Latino community while 29% say the same of the Republican Party. In contrast, 33% say the Republican Party is hostile towards the Latino community, compared with 7% of respondents saying the Democratic Party is.
Which party is better on specific issues: Hispanic voters say they trust Democrats more to handle health care (55%), climate change, voting rights, and immigration reform (each at 51%) and inflation and affordability (50%). Conversely, they believe Republicans would do a better job managing border security (37%).
Military deployments: 33% believe federal military deployments should only happen if state or local leaders request them. 31% say federal military deployments should not happen at all and only 24% say the federal government should be able to send military forces even if local governments do not want them.
On Immigration
On recent immigration policies and actions, 33% said employers have lost workers because people fear being arrested if they go to work, and 29% say children are missing classes because their parents fear being arrested while taking their kids to school.
Top immigration policy priorities include a path to citizenship for law-abiding and long-residing undocumented individuals, including those who were brought to the country as children (43%); ensuring detention facilities are safe, sanitary and humane once immigrants are detained (35%); ensuring people in deportation proceedings have a chance to make their case in court (34%); and cracking down on human smugglers and drug traffickers (33%).
On Freedoms and Civil Rights
72% oppose the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to use appearance, languages, and work/labor as grounds to arrest someone on suspicion of immigration violations.
59% believe civil rights and liberties have become less secure.
A majority do not support the way in which federal military/national guard deployments are occurring, including 31% who believe such deployments should not happen at all.
49% are very concerned that they or someone close to them may become a victim of political violence, with 44% believing that recent increase in political violence is mostly due to Republican talk, as opposed to 19% holding Democrats responsible.
41% think people fear immigration authorities will arrest them even if they’re U.S. citizens or have legal status.
Click HERE to view demographic crosstabs and HERE to view battleground districts. For interactive Latino poll results, see Hispanic Electorate Data Hub.