Interesting reporting in a front-page New York Times news article that interviews dozens of Latino men about why they vote Republican:
Like any voter, these men are also driven by their opinions on a variety of issues: Many mention their anti-abortion views, support for gun rights and strict immigration policies. They have watched their friends and relatives go to western Texas to work the oil fields, and worry that new environmental regulations will wipe out the industry there. Still, most say their favorable view of Republicans stems from economic concerns, a desire for low taxes and few regulations. They say they want to support the party they believe will allow them to work and become wealthy....
Sergio Arellano of Phoenix, Ariz., said he had a story he liked to tell about the moment he registered as a Republican. When he was an 18-year-old Army infantryman on home leave, he went to a July 4 event and spotted the voter registration table. He asked the woman sitting there: What's the difference between Republicans and Democrats?
Democrats, he recalled her saying, are for the poor. Republicans are for the rich.
"Well that made it easy — I didn't want to be poor, I wanted to be rich, so I chose Republican," Mr. Arellano said. "Obviously she figured I would identify with the poor. There's an assumption that you're starting out in this country, you don't have any money, you will identify with the poor. But what I wanted was to make my own money."...
Ricardo Portillo...The owner of a jewelry store in McAllen, Texas, for the past 20 years, Mr. Portillo prides himself on his business acumen. And from his point of view, both he and his customers did well under a Trump administration. Though he describes most politicians as "terrible" — Republicans, he said, "at least let me keep more of my money, and are for the government doing less and allowing me for doing more for myself."...
Like other men interviewed, Mr. Cortez, a registered independent, said he voted for Mr. Trump in large part because he believed he had done better financially under his administration and worried that a government run by President Biden would raise taxes and support policies that would favor the elite.
These are themes one hears also from nationally prominent Latino Republicans such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Susana Martinez, and Mario Diaz-Balart. I can't quite tell if it is Hispanics assimilating into the American ideals of self-reliance and the Protestant work ethic, or if it is Hispanics bringing their own immigrant and second-generation hustle to an America that has gone soft and complacent. Either way, I find it encouraging, and a welcome corrective to the pessimism about conservatism that one hears expressed frequently in pieces such as this recent column by Ross Douthat.