{"id":13309,"date":"2023-08-08T14:44:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T14:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13309"},"modified":"2023-08-10T19:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T19:32:21","slug":"latino-evangelical-voters-face-a-tug-of-war-in-the-trump-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13309","title":{"rendered":"Latino evangelical voters face a tug of war in the Trump era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Melissa Gomez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Rev. Gabriel Salguero paced the stage, his voice booming into a microphone as 3,000 faces tipped toward him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\n spoke in Spanish of how Latinos came to the U.S. to escape political \ncorruption. His wife, the Rev. Jeanette Salguero, picked up the thread \nin English: Immigrants came here to escape natural disasters, hunger, \nviolence, she told the congregants of Calvario City Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod brought us here,\u201d Jeanette thundered, \u201cto be a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur people, our immigrants, our refugees, deserve to be respected now,\u201d the evangelical pastors declared in turn, as the crowd\u2019s rumbling of assent grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plight of immigrants and refugees resonates deeply with \nCalvario\u2019s mainly Latino congregation. The New Testament, particularly \nJesus welcoming the stranger, has taken on a new political significance \nin the Trump era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many at Calvario and elsewhere are disturbed by President Trump\u2019s restrictive immigration policies,<\/a> reductions in the number of refugees allowed<\/a> into the U.S. and his divisive and sometimes racist rhetoric<\/a> about people of color<\/a>.\n But when Latino evangelicals go to the ballot box, they also consider \ntheir positions on abortion, gay marriage and criminal justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause\n we\u2019re evangelical, people assume we\u2019re Republican, and because we\u2019re \nLatino, people assume we\u2019re Democrats,\u201d said Gabriel Salguero, who is \nPuerto Rican. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

White evangelicals, whose numbers are declining, have long been a reliable voting bloc for Republicans, and a large majority continue to support Trump<\/a>. Black evangelicals have historically leaned Democratic. But among Latino evangelicals, who often identify as politically independent, support for the parties, and for Trump, is more ambiguous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latinos are expected to make up the largest minority voting bloc for the first time in 2020 and could play a key role in the presidential election. A majority tends to vote Democratic, but Latino evangelicals \u2014 a growing group now at 2% of the national population<\/a> \u2014 tend to be more conservative than their nonreligious and Catholic counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Florida, Republicans have long tapped into religious communities \nfor presidential elections, said Fernand Amandi, a political strategist \nbased in Miami. But this year, Amandi said, Latino evangelical voters \nconflicted over Trump are up for grabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there is an \nopportunity there now for the Democrats to come in and basically make \nthe case that not only is this the most impious man on the planet, he\u2019s \nalso the most anti-Hispanic president in U.S. history,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n Salgueros preach religious harmony and at times openly advocate for \nsocial justice policy in sermons at their church nestled along Florida\u2019s\n Interstate 4 corridor, but they urge congregants to remain immune to \npartisan politics. They do not endorse political parties or candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt\n the end of the day you\u2019ve got to make a decision, but at least it\u2019s not\n blind allegiance or blind endorsement,\u201d said Salguero, who served on \nadvisory councils for former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush. \u201cYou \nmake tough choices. You pray, you deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has not been \neasy. Trump advocates for religious freedoms and appointed two Supreme \nCourt justices who are like-minded on issues like abortion, just as some\n Latino evangelicals had hoped. But his treatment of asylum seekers and \nothers and his behavior in general, make some at Calvario say there\u2019s no\n chance they will vote for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isael L\u00f3pez says Trump is \narrogant and \u201cnot a genuine person.\u201d But like many others in the \ncongregation, L\u00f3pez said that does not necessarily mean he will support a\n Democrat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graphic designer said he voted for a third-party candidate in \n2016. Now he\u2019s waiting to see who more closely represents his \nfaith-based views, Democrat or not, saying, \u201cFor now, I\u2019m holding my \nvote.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celeste Marzan, 49, a volunteer at the church, said \nTrump\u2019s behavior is inconsistent with the Christian values he proclaims.\n When she thinks about the way he treats women, the accountant said, \u201cIt\n makes me gag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marzan said she did not vote in 2016 because she couldn\u2019t stand either candidate. She could support a Democrat in 2020 \u2014 if the candidate fears God and respects others, especially the vulnerable, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats haven\u2019t done enough to show evangelicals that a majority of\n the party\u2019s platform \u2014 including healthcare for all and expanding \nfederal programs to help those in need \u2014 aligns with their values, said \nBishop Joshua Rodriguez, a founding pastor of a church in Jersey City, \nN.J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe in pro-life, but from the womb to the tomb,\u201d said\n Rodriguez, who was in Orlando for a summit hosted by the National \nLatino Evangelical Coalition, founded by the Salgueros. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodriguez\n doesn\u2019t like to see evangelicals painted broadly as supporting Trump\u2019s \npolicies, and wants Democrats and evangelical leaders to collaborate on \nissues both groups champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evangelicals of all races are more socially conservative than their nonreligious counterparts, but there are divisions along racial lines on political issues, according to a 2016 national study<\/a> by University of Maryland professor Janelle Wong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half of white evangelicals agree with the statement \u201cimmigrants hurt \nthe economy,\u201d compared with 25% of Latino evangelicals, the study found.\n \u201cFor Latino evangelicals<\/a>, their community identity is much broader than just evangelicals,\u201d Wong said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Madrid, a Latino Republican consultant based in California, said\n the president\u2019s strategy to run a race-based campaign will only split \nthe evangelical electorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the overt anti-Latino \npolicies that are coming out daily from the president and the Republican\n Party, you are forcing the Latino population to choose between their \nracial identity and their religious beliefs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Rev. \nSamuel Rodriguez, a well-known evangelical pastor who delivered a prayer\n at Trump\u2019s inauguration, said Democrats\u2019 stances on abortion will \nlikely keep Latino evangelicals away from the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they can\u2019t support Trump,\u201d he said, \u201cthey\u2019re probably gonna stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\n Jonathan Rivera, a pastor at Calvario, that\u2019s not an option. He was \nconflicted about whom to vote for during the 2016 presidential election.\n So he didn\u2019t cast a ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI regretted it immediately after and\n I felt, if anything, once President Trump came into office, I felt even\n more responsible,\u201d said Rivera. \u201cI felt like my silence was complicit \nin his election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivera, 27, said he\u2019s a Christian first and \nLatino second. The dual identities aren\u2019t a balance but a tension, \nbecause policy issues directly impact people in his church and their \nfamilies, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd tensions aren\u2019t balanced, they\u2019re \nmanaged,\u201d said Rivera, a registered independent. \u201cAnd so you do the best\n that you can with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Trump\u2019s rhetoric proving harmful to \nhis community, Rivera said he believes he\u2019s not alone in realizing he \ncannot afford to sit out this election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think a lot of Latino \nevangelicals believe that we don\u2019t have a candidate, but we have to do \nbetter than President Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that means \nRepublican or Democrat. I just think that means better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel \nSalguero says Latino evangelicals are never a given for one party \nbecause they take their political cues from scripture, not party \nideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe very American temptation is to co-opt religion,\u201d Salguero said, but \u201cGod is not a Republican and God is not a Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa Gomez is a reporter for the LA Times covering the 2020 presidential campaign. She joined the Los Angeles Times in 2018 after graduating from the University of Florida.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Melissa Gomez The Rev. Gabriel Salguero paced the stage, his voice booming into a microphone as 3,000 faces tipped toward him. He spoke in Spanish of how Latinos came to the U.S. to escape […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,70],"tags":[86,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-13309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-latino-vote","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13309"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13879,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13309\/revisions\/13879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}