Harris and Trump highlight their economic policies to reach Latino voters

WASHINGTON (AP) — Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump see economic policy as their best opportunity to win over Latino voters. But their approaches are very different.

In an interview with Telemundo Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Harris plans to highlight how her agenda would create more opportunities for Latino men — a strategy born out of about a dozen focus groups and polls.

The Democratic candidate intends to showcase her plans to double the number of registered apprentices. She wants to emphasize how she would remove college degree requirements for certain positions in the federal government and encourage private employers to do the same. And Harris wants to provide forgivable loans worth up to $20,000 each to 1 million small businesses.

Former President Trump, the Republican nominee, is reaching out to Latinos on Tuesday, holding a roundtable with them in Doral, a Miami suburb.

His campaign says he will argue that employment, wages and home ownership have increased for Latinos during his term. The campaign also says he will argue that Harris and President Joe Biden have harmed Latinos with high inflation and that “Trump is the only candidate who can bring prosperity back to America.”

The Trump and Harris campaigns see what could be an electoral decision-making opportunity with Latino men, who could influence the outcome in states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada if their traditional support for Democrats wanes. Trump believes he has made inroads among Latino men. Harris’ team is trying to shore up support within the same group with just two weeks to go until the election.

The question arises whether memories of Trump’s presidency or the promise of new policies under Harris will do more to energize Latino voters.

“We are very confident that these policies will resonate because we have seen them resonate in speeches and focus groups,” said Matt Barreto, a pollster for the Harris campaign. “It especially speaks to Latino men about success and achieving the American dream.”

Both campaigns are jockeying for an advantage with an increasingly diverse electorate in the final weeks of the campaign. Harris also focused on black men, to whom she also introduced forgivable small business loans. She appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast to appeal to younger women, while Trump appeared on podcasts to target younger men.

Trump participated in a public meeting last week on Univision, where his main address to Latinos was that the economy had been phenomenal during his tenure in the White House.

“We had the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Trump said. “Now we have a terrible economy mainly because of inflation. So let’s get rid of inflation.”

The former president’s description of his own economic record typically excludes the mass job losses and recession caused by the pandemic in 2020. Inflation is now at a relatively healthy 2.4%, but frustration remains persists for voters due to inflation peaking in June 2022 at 9.1%, as gasoline, groceries and housing have become much more expensive.

At Univision, Trump said increased oil production would reduce overall inflation if elected. He has also suggested that his combination of tariff increases and tax cuts will help growth, although his campaign lacks detail compared to the policy guide released by Harris’ team.

In a tight race, Harris’ campaign is betting that Latino men are increasingly attuned to the specifics of policy as the election approaches.

Based on focus groups, Barreto said the Harris campaign found that Latino men, in particular, wanted access to apprenticeships that could give people without a college degree access to a financially stable career.

The latest Labor Department figures show there are 641,044 registered apprenticeships, an increase from the Trump administration when apprenticeships peaked in 2020 at 569,311. Doubling that number, as Harris proposed, would put the total number of apprenticeships at about 1.2 million over four years.

Latino men have also expressed the need for access to capital and credit to start businesses, as the Treasury Department reported on October 10 that Latino business ownership has increased 40% from pre-pandemic levels and could continue to increase with better financing options.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will be on Univision’s El Bueno, La Mala, y El Feo, a syndicated radio show, this week, while Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, will be interviewed this week on Univision’s nationally syndicated afternoon radio program, El Free-Guey Show. Emhoff will also be interviewed by Alex “El Genio” Lucas on Nueva Network Radio.

Trump hopes to convince Latinos that they can trust a fellow businessman like him, while also calling for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the country.

“Hispanics – they say you can’t generalize, but I think you can – they have wonderful entrepreneurship and they have – oh, you have so much energy. Just relax a little, okay? Calm down,” Trump said at an event on October 12. “You have great ambition, a lot of energy, you are very intelligent and you really like natural entrepreneurs.”