California Latinos are angry at Donald Trump in 2026

from Maya S. Miller, Jeremiah Kimmelman and Mohammed Al-EuCalMatters

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Subscribe to your newsletters.

This article is also available in English. Read it here.

Two years ago, Chiefer Danks of Rosedale, who works in agriculture, believed that former President Donald Trump would stabilize the economy and make life more affordable again, as it was during his first term. But more than a year into the Republican leader’s second term, Danks isn’t happy with how things have turned out.

Like Danks, many Latinos in California feel betrayed by the president’s campaign promises to quickly cut spending and keep the United States out of military conflicts abroad; promises that ring hollow as gas and food prices soar, largely because of Trump’s unpopular war in Iran.

They are also appalled and outraged that the second Trump administration is targeting Latinos — both those here illegally and those here legally, including U.S. citizens — with violent immigration raids and deportations, tearing families apart in the process.

“I thought I was going to make America great again,” Danks, 31, said as he waited for his wife at El Mercado Latino, a Latino family business center in the predominantly Hispanic East Bakersfield neighborhood. “He didn’t keep his word.”

Polls and midterm elections show Latinos reversing their historic 2024 rightward shift toward Trump. And according to a new CalMatters analysis of 2025 election data, that trend also applied to last year’s special redistricting election, which Democrats They managed to present it as a referendum on Trump.

he analysis of voting results in 57 of California’s 58 counties revealed that Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to rig the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats, is far ahead of Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign in districts where the majority of voters are not white.

The trend is most noticeable in precincts where the majority of votes are cast by Latino voters. “Yes” on Proposition 50 gained about 30 percentage points over Harris’ performance against Trump a year earlier, according to a CalMatters analysis.

The CalMatters findings provide some of the clearest quantitative evidence yet that Latinos’ rightward shift toward Trump in 2024 is a one-time event rather than a permanent shift, a national trend that has so far been captured by state and national surveys, focus groups and anecdotal evidence.

The Yes vote on Proposition 50 was a way for Latinos to channel their pent-up frustration with the Trump administration, said Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco-based Democratic pollster who has conducted several surveys and focus groups with undecided Latino voters.

“These Latinos, even those who voted for Trump in 2024, were furious with him,” Tulchin said. “They feel cheated by Trump and his promises.”

The failure to deliver on economic promises has sown mistrust and resentment, but Latinos also felt unfairly attacked by the administration on many fronts, including the renaming of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of the Americas,” high tariffs on products from Mexico and, of course, a crackdown on immigration, Tulchin said.

Danks’ mother-in-law, a legal permanent resident, ran a corner fruit stand in her neighborhood. But she closed the business after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepped up last year.

“Because she’s Latina and even if she’s a resident of the United States, she doesn’t feel safe,” said Lorena Herrera, Danks’ wife, who lives in the United States on a work visa. “No one is really safe in this country right now. It’s very sad.”

Democrats hope to capitalize on this anti-Trump frustration among Latinos as they work to gain control of one or both houses of Congress in November. The path to a majority in the House of Representatives likely goes through California, where Latinos could play a decisive role in at least two hotly contested seats: one in the Central Valley and the other in San Diego.

But while a strong showing on Proposition 50 may confirm dissatisfaction with the GOP and the Trump administration, it doesn’t necessarily mean those voters support Democrats or that they’ll vote at all.

Interviews with nearly a dozen eligible Central Valley Latinos revealed a deep skepticism toward all politicians that often keeps many voters on the sidelines. Even Danks, despite his displeasure with life under a Republican-controlled federal government, did not vote in last year’s special election on Proposition 50 and said he likely won’t vote in this year’s midterm elections.

“Was Proposition 50 an indication of something ideological or a return to his roots? No, not even a little bit,” said Mike Madrid, a conservative political consultant who studies the behavior of the Latino electorate. “They reject a party in power that doesn’t prioritize their economic issues.”

Cost of living ‘spiraling out of control’

Since Proposition 50 was passed last November, the Trump administration has only lost popularity among Latino voters, national surveys show as the prices of basic goods such as food, utilities and above all gasoline continue to rise due to the ongoing war in Iran.

“It’s getting out of hand,” said Gabriel Gracia, 31, of Tulare, who runs a small commercial cleaning company in Woodlake, about 25 miles to the northeast. All that driving time equates to about two tanks of gas per week, the price of which has risen from about $60 to almost $85.

“Everything is too expensive,” echoed Monica Rodriguez, 31, another Tulare resident who spoke with CalMatters on a recent afternoon as she walked into Superior Groceries to pick up some ingredients for the chicken she was making for dinner.

He says his family sticks to chicken and pork when eating meat because they often can’t afford beef. He bought a used Honda Fit because of the fuel economy because gas prices are so high and he has to cross town twice a day to get his two kids to and from school.

Rodriguez even said she considered having a third child as she had always wanted a daughter, but the cost of diapers, formula and other essentials was so high that she gave up.

Despite her frustrations with the cost of living, Rodriguez has not voted recently, abstaining from both the 2024 presidential election and the special election because of Proposition 50. However, she said she may vote in this year’s midterm elections if her sister helps her fill out her ballot.

“I have to vote, but I don’t because I get stressed,” Rodriguez said, explaining that she doesn’t always understand who is running for what office or how to fill out her ballot.

Gracia, who also spoke to CalMatters on the way to Superior Groceries, said he voted for Trump in 2024 because it was “a choice between bad and worse.” He disliked the way the United States was perceived as a “weak country” under President Joe Biden and believed the economy would improve under Trump, as it did when he first took office.

“His first term was good, so I figured his second would be good, too,” Gracia said. “They basically sold us lies. That’s what they do.”

Despite his disappointment, Grazia said he would have voted for Trump anyway because the GOP’s tax policies are more favorable to small business owners like himself. He did not vote on Proposition 50 and announced his support for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco for governor.

Proposition 50 mobilized the Democratic base

While Proposition 50 served as an outlet for the anger of some voters, it also spurred greater turnout among Latino Democrats who felt demotivated by Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign.

“I just didn’t have anyone to say I connected with,” said Angel Jimenez, 23, a sophomore animal science major at Bakersfield College.

Jimenez said the political landscape is so bleak that he has not voted for president in 2024. As a former supporter of Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump is “definitely not” the right candidate for him. Jimenez considered Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his environmental platform, but ultimately decided it was not viable. He also didn’t like how the Democratic Party leadership tapped Harris as Biden’s replacement before the public had a chance to voice their opinion.

But when Jimenez heard about Proposition 50 and the Democrats’ anti-Trump message and Republican redistricting efforts in Texas, he was eager to level the playing field.

“They were getting an unfair advantage,” Jimenez said, referring to Texas. “I was for rebalancing the situation.”

Jimenez spoke with CalMatters after a campus candidate forum for 22nd Congressional District. Democrat Randy Villegas, who has the support of both Sanders and the progressive-leaning Working Families Party, was the only candidate in attendance. After the forum, Jimenez signed up to volunteer with the campaign and also inquired about internship opportunities.

The more liberal Jimenez said the conflict in Iran and how it affects the cost of living and affordability will be key factors in his decision to vote this year.

“The current war has undoubtedly generated instability in everything,” he said. “Job security could be affected. The overall economy is also hurt.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under license Creative Commons Attribution/Attribution-Noncommercial.