Latinos make up significant number of new voters, focusing on unique issues

Unidos U.S. says Latino voters will play a decisive role in the 2024 election as their portion of the electorate continues to grow.

Hispanic eligible voters for the 2024 election spiked by 3.9 million when compared to 2020.

And Voto Latino projected that one-fifth of Latino voters said they prefer a third-party candidate over either former President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden, NPR reported .

Chuck Rocha, a contributor for the New York Times, said the candidates should "show up and tell" Latino voters what they are going to do "not what you did in the past," but what they are going to do "from now forward, to make their lives better." He said of the debates, "what you saw last night were two guys arguing about things that they have done."

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Rocha said he does focus groups every week working on polling and found that "Latino voters are telling us, 'tell me what you're going to do, no matter what party you belong to, to make my life better. To make it easier for me to provide for my family. To make it easier for me to get my kids into college. To make sure that my kids and grand kids have a better life than I had. And, probably a better job than I had.'"

Rocha is a co-host of the Latino Vote podcast which speaks to Latino voices in the United States to look at voting patterns and "inclinations of the Nation's Hispanics."

He says unique and important issued related to immigration, including a solution for a clear pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, remain top of mind for many eligible Latino voters.

The Pew Research Center said Latinos are projected to make up 14.7% of eligible voters in November's election.