Pennsylvania barbershop owner and second-generation American Ronald Corales, whose father immigrated to the U.S from Peru, voted for President-elect Donald Trump. Democrats expected to do well with Latino voters, who now make up about 20% of the U.
S. population, but Mr. Trump made gains with Latino voters both nationally and in key battleground states in the 2024 election .
Corales' vote boiled down, in part, to the economy. He wasn't alone. "A lot of the Latinos are working-class people," he said.
"They have families. You know, they help their families, even outside the country as well." Did Democrats take the Latino vote for granted? Northampton County, where Corales lives and works, went for former President Barack Obama in 2012 and then to Mr.
Trump in 2016. Mr. Biden flipped it back in 2020 and then Trump won it again in 2024.
Latinos are the fastest-growing community in the county. Nationwide, Trump's Election Day support jumped 14 points among Latinos. Corales' immigrant father was so thrilled to be in America that he named his son after President Ronald Reagan.
Today, Corales said he finds some common ground with Mr. Trump, even on immigration. "And hopefully President Trump will bring some kind of legalization to those immigrants because there's still a lot of good people out there," he said.
"That they're willing to work and continue dreaming with the American dream." Second and third-generation Latino families in the working and middle class are very sensitive to i.