Democrats worry rising socialism turning off Hispanic voters

Democrats have been trying to regain lost ground with Hispanic voters since the bruising 2024 election.

But as they attempt to win back voters who migrated to the GOP, Democrats are also gripping with the rise of democratic socialism within their own party — a movement they see as a turnoff to some Hispanic voters, particularly the older set who hail from nations like Cuba and Venezuela.

Democratic strategists say while they may prevail in the midterms, they worry that the socialism label will take hold in the 2028 presidential election if centrists in their party don’t sound the alarm.

“Socialism is a nonstarter in places like Florida, where there are big swaths of Hispanic voters,” said one Democratic strategist in the state. “The word in and of itself is toxic.”

The strategist pointed to Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, the Democratic candidate who is running for Senate in the Sunshine State. Her association with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) will hurt her chances of winning in Florida, said the strategist.

It’s been noted that the DSA did not endorse Nixon, who was well known in Florida for her progressive views before her upset win in a Democratic primary this summer over Alex Vindman, who had been a heavy favorite.

But the strategist said Nixon joining the DSA will speak volumes with voters, adding, “You can’t be half-pregnant.”

“The toothpaste is out of the tube, and I don’t think she can navigate that. She’s getting all of the negatives and that’s why it’s going to hurt her chances,” the strategist said.

Polling shows that democratic socialism has yet to gain traction among Hispanic Democrats.

A Pew Research Center survey released earlier this year found that just 20 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters viewed political leaders who identify as democratic socialists favorably — compared with 21 percent of Black Democrats, 30 percent of Asian Democrats and 40 percent of white voters in their party.

The skepticism speaks to views on socialism more broadly.

A 2022 Pew survey shows that more than half of Latino respondents had a “positive impression” of capitalism, while 53 percent of those polled had a negative impression of socialism. Just 41 percent said they had a definitive positive view of socialism.

The breakdown was even more stark by national origin: For example, 82 percent of Cuban respondents said they have a “very or somewhat negative impression of socialism.”

The same poll revealed that among Puerto Rican adults, 64 percent also had a negative view of socialism.

The skepticism was less pronounced among Hispanic respondents of Mexican and South American origin: The survey showed that 51 percent and 47 percent of those voters, respectively, viewed socialism through a negative lens.

Democratic strategist Luis Miranda, who worked in the Obama White House as the director of Hispanic media, said he understands some of the concern among Democrats, as someone who was born in Colombia and raised in the United States.

“I saw what the extremes did in the country I was born in, both the far right and the far left,” Miranda said. “For a lot of Latinos, they’re going to feel that intrinsically.”

“It’s not surprising that there would be some skepticism of DSA,” he added.

Miranda said last year’s election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), who is a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has “helped to ease some concerns” about the DSA. But he said Democrats will need to stand up to some of the “extreme” views of the organization, including abolishing the Senate and the presidency.

Historically, Hispanic members have made up a small sliver of the DSA. The organization’s national membership survey in 2021 revealed that 9 percent of respondents identified as Hispanic. An internal survey of New York City DSA members this year found that 14 percent of respondents said they were Hispanic. At the same time, 60 percent of those surveyed identified as white.

Among younger Hispanic voters, however, there is some evidence that attitudes toward socialism may be different. In the 2022 Pew poll, about 46 percent of Latino respondents ages 18-29 had a positive impression of socialism, compared to approximately a third of adults ages 50 and up.

And there’s proof of success with candidates like Claire Valdez, a Mexican American union organizer who was endorsed by the DSA. Valdez won predominately Hispanic precincts in her primary this summer by more than 30 points.

Another candidate, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who speaks Spanish and has lived in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, won her primary against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Still, Espaillat carried Hispanic-plurality precincts by 4 percentage points, while Avila Chevalier won majorities in predominantly Black and non-Hispanic white precincts, according to a Washington Post analysis of the results.

Stephanie Valencia, CEO of Equis Research, an organization focused on understanding Latino voters, said questions about how Latinos feel about socialism are “not new.”

But she warned that the “current version of the debate has its own unique contours” and that voters need to be careful before drawing their own conclusions.

“Especially because ‘socialism’ isn’t just one issue. It can and does mean different things to different people,” Valencia said. “And those meanings can shift over time, as the political debate evolves and the issue landscape shifts.”

“Will a socialism attack be effective against Democrats today, when many Latinos can’t afford to fill up their gas tanks and see Trump deporting their neighbors? We don’t know the answer to that question yet,” she said.