The Myth of the Racist Misogynistic Latino Voter

New polling shows the progressive backlash against the Latino rightward shift is its own form of racial stereotyping.

Carlos Kosienski/Sipa USA

I’ve written on this topic regularly over my career and covered it extensively in my book The Latino Century. More polling data has come out on Latino voters and their views of Kamala Harris and LA Mayor Karen Bass, two of the most prominent Black women politicians in America and I'm keenly aware of how hard it is for racial stereotypes to die so I'm going to visit it again.

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In the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, a particularly troubling narrative resurfaced: that Latino voters rejected Kamala Harris because of inherent misogyny and racism within Latino culture. This reductive stereotype, suggesting Latino voters are fundamentally opposed to supporting Black women candidates, emerged from various quarters, but was particularly pronounced among some Black and white progressives frustrated that Latino voters did not align with expected voting patterns for minority groups.

The post-election news cycle featured numerous examples of this kind of framing. In a widely circulated opinion piece for The Atlantic, a prominent political commentator attributed Harris's underperformance with Latino men to "entrenched machismo culture that resists female leadership." Similarly, on MSNBC's post-election analysis panel, one contributor suggested that "cultural resistance to strong Black women in positions of authority" explained the voting pattern. Social media platforms amplified these narratives, with viral threads on Twitter/X explicitly blaming "Latino misogyny" for the election outcome. The Washington Post ran a headline asking, "Did Latino Machismo Cost Harris the Presidency?" while several political podcasts dedicated entire episodes to dissecting the supposed cultural resistance among Latino voters to female candidates.

This criticism is not new; I’ve heard the argument that Latinos are inherently biased against women, and particularly women of color, for thirty years. I wrote on this topic immediately after the November election. For decades, Latino voters have faced condemnation when their electoral choices don't conform to the traditional Black-white racial paradigm that has historically dominated American political discourse. This binary framework often leaves little room for understanding the distinct historical experiences, cultural contexts, and political priorities that shape Latino voting behavior.

The expectation that Latinos should vote as a monolithic bloc, aligning perfectly with other minority groups, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Latino American history. Unlike the distinct racial categorization that has defined the Black American experience, Latino Americans represent diverse nationalities, racial backgrounds, immigration histories, and socioeconomic circumstances that yield varied political perspectives. The criticism Latino voters face often stems from discomfort with this complexity, which challenges simplistic racial frameworks in American politics.

But let’s focus specifically on Black, female, and Black female candidates and their history of support or lack thereof among Latino voters. Historical voting patterns directly contradict the notion that Latino voters harbor particular resistance to supporting women or Black candidates. Barack Obama achieved the highest level of Latino support in presidential history, securing an extraordinary 75% of Latino votes. Hillary Clinton followed closely behind with 69%, demonstrating that both a Black man and a white woman earned the strongest Latino support in electoral history, hardly evidence of a community driven by racial or gender bias.

Kamala Harris herself built her early political career with substantial Latino support in California, including her narrow victory for Attorney General against Los Angeles District Attorney Stephen Cooley, where Latino voters proved decisive. Even more tellingly, she defeated Latina icon Loretta Sanchez in the Democratic primary by winning key Latino precincts in Sanchez's own congressional district, clear evidence that Latino voters evaluate candidates beyond simplistic demographic considerations.

Unfortunately, the vile charges that Latinos are misogynistic and racist routinely emerge among progressives who don’t like the fact that Latinos vote against failed economic policies or a suffocating affordability problem that Democrats perpetuate.

But let’s look at the research.

Recent polling from the Berkeley Institute for Government partnership with the Los Angeles Times reveals that Harris is currently polling better among Latinos than white voters in California, essentially matching her support among Asian voters. Similarly, while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has experienced declining approval across all demographic groups, her support among Latino voters has dropped less than among any other group, including Black voters. Interestingly, both white and Asian voters now show lower support for Bass than Latino voters do.

The California Policy Lab's report "The 2022 California Electorate: Using a Population Representative Survey to Understand Voting Preferences" provides substantial evidence that Latino voters, like most Americans, prioritize economic considerations when casting their ballots. The report's data demonstrates significant Latino concern regarding inflation, housing affordability, and employment opportunities, economic factors that consistently rank at the forefront of their decision-making process.

This economic focus explains recent polling shifts showing declining Trump support among Latino voters. Rather than reflecting prejudice against candidates based on identity characteristics, these shifts correspond more directly with assessments of economic policies and their potential impact on Latino communities. The "racist and misogynistic Latino voter" narrative simply cannot withstand scrutiny when confronted with evidence showing that policy substance, particularly on economic matters, holds far greater influence than a candidate's demographic profile.

The California Policy Lab's findings highlight another critical aspect often overlooked: the significant diversity within the Latino electorate itself. The report reveals meaningful variations in political priorities across different segments of Latino voters based on factors including age, region, nativity, and socioeconomic status. Young Latino voters demonstrate greater concern for climate change and housing affordability than their older counterparts, while foreign-born Latinos place particular emphasis on immigration policy alongside economic issues.

This heterogeneity underscores the danger of treating Latino voters as a monolithic bloc. Latino voters in California span the ideological spectrum, with viewpoints as diverse as the community itself. While certain shared concerns exist, particularly around economic opportunity and stability, the variation in political perspectives defies simplistic categorization.

Further challenging gendered stereotypes, as I documented in The Latino Century, Latino communities elect women at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group in the country. In California, Hispanic female legislators outnumber Hispanic male legislators, powerful evidence contradicting simplistic "machismo" narratives.

The persistence of stereotypes about Latino voters reflects a broader problem in American political discourse: the tendency to reduce complex voting blocs to oversimplified caricatures. This problem appears most pronounced in some academic and progressive circles where theoretical frameworks sometimes override empirical reality.

For campaigns seeking meaningful connection with Latino voters, the implications are clear. Rather than assuming inherent biases or uniform perspectives, effective outreach requires addressing substantive economic concerns that consistently emerge as priorities. Housing affordability, job opportunities, inflation, and healthcare access represent areas where meaningful policy proposals can resonate with Latino voters across demographic categories.

The myth of the racist and misogynistic Latino voter ultimately serves no one, neither the diverse Latino communities it mischaracterizes nor the political discourse it impoverishes. By engaging with evidence like that presented in the California Policy Lab's report, we can move beyond stereotypes toward a more accurate and respectful understanding of Latino voters as they actually are: an aspirational working class bloc, diverse in perspective, pragmatic in priorities, and evaluating candidates based primarily on economic record rather than simplistic identity factors.