July 14, 2026

Polling and ad-testing research finds economic message on Republican “failures,” paired with pointed contrast on immigration cruelty, moves swing voters and re-engages Latinos who sat out 2024

Read the full findings HERE.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Voto Latino released new messaging research, conducted by Swayable among 1,388 Latino voters, combined with a six-month, AI-powered social listening analysis on TikTok. The findings reveal a clear opening for Democrats: the path to winning Latino voters in 2026 runs through Republican brand damage, not the Trump brand. Specifically, economic messaging focused on GOP failures on affordability serves as the key persuasion tool with swing voters, while addressing the cruelty of the Trump administration’s immigration policies mobilizes critical voters who sat out the 2024 elections.

“The economy is crushing Latino families and immigration enforcement is killing them. That pain is real and it is urgent,” stated Beatriz Lopez, Executive Director of Voto Latino. “The fastest way to hold Republicans responsible for the economy, for immigration enforcement, and for the fatalities is to vote them out. The path to victory lies with the Latino electorate. Democrats who get past Trump and hold Republicans accountable on the economy will move voters in their favor. And against political conventional wisdom, immigration is not a liability. Accountability on ICE and their tactics is key to turnout, and turnout is crucial to securing Democratic wins across battleground races.”

Key findings from the memo include:

• An economic message focused on Republican failures is the persuasion tool: it moves swing voters and even conservative-leaning Latinos toward Democrats. Ultimately, the path to winning Latino voters in 2026 runs through Republican brand damage, not Trump brand damage. Ads that focus on Trump alone deepen existing negative feelings toward him but do little to move voters toward Democrats or away from the GOP. Holding the Republican Party accountable as a whole for Latino families’ economic pain increases Democratic favorability, decreases GOP favorability, and enthusiasm to vote goes up.
• Immigration remains a powerful mobilization tool, especially for 2024 non-voters. The ad on the cruelty of ICE detention and tactics moves registered voters who sat out 2024 more than any other group, firing them up to vote and lifting Democratic favorability among the very people Democrats most need to bring back into the fight. Without messaging on immigration, Democrats lose a valuable opportunity to mobilize key Latinos en masse to the polls.
• Real-time social listening confirms the opening. Across four Latino TikTok personas spanning the ideological spectrum, cost-of-living anxiety is the single most consistent theme reaching every audience tracked, while opposition to ICE enforcement has broken into even the most apolitical, right-leaning feeds since late 2025.
• Nearly four in ten Latino voters are struggling to make ends meet. Voto Latino’s spring polling found 37% of Latino voters have delayed paying a bill and 36% have had to skip meals due to financial hardship.
• Conservative-leaning Latinos are more persuadable than assumed. The same Republican-focused economic message moved conservative Latinos 13 points toward Democrats, more than any other group tested.
• Young Latinos are the most energized audience available. Enthusiasm among Gen Z Latinos jumped 17 points after exposure to the economic message.

Read the full memo HERE.

###

Voto Latino is a civic advocacy organization dedicated to educating and empowering the next generation of Latino voters while working to build a more inclusive and representative democracy. Since its founding, Voto Latino has registered nearly two million voters. In 2024, the organization took legal action to protect voting rights, filing multiple lawsuits in Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina to safeguard access to the ballot ahead of the elections.