Donald Trump's share of Latino votes set a record for a Republican presidential candidate — and it included a strong performance with the Latinos who seemed least expected to support him.
According to national exit polls, former President and now President-elect Trump won as much as 46% of the Latino vote electorate in Tuesday's election, which he won handily over his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
That’s a sharp rise from the 32% Trump took in the 2020 presidential election. And even higher than the 44% high mark set by President George Bush in 2004.
In Florida, where he took almost 60% of Latino ballots, Trump won Latino-majority Miami-Dade County — the first time a Republican presidential candidate has done that since 1988.
His win there was fueled by almost 70% support among the county's majority Cubans, according to an Florida International University poll.
What’s most surprising, however, is Trump’s apparently strong performance with Puerto Rican voters — considering that shortly before Tuesday's election, speakers at a Trump campaign rally in New York made demeaning remarks about Puerto Rico, calling it “a floating island of garbage.”
Puerto Ricans as a result were expected to punish Trump at the polls. But results suggest otherwise.
