Axios Vibes: Latinos say Harris is better on border security
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Kamala Harris speaks with Lili Montalban outside a detention center for migrant children in 2019 in Homestead, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris is performing better or about the same as President Joe Biden among Latinos on how she'll tackle border security, according to a new Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll.
Why it matters: Attacks from former President Donald Trump on Harris' role in border security as a member of the Biden administration don't seem to have affected Harris among Latino voters so far.
By the numbers: Of the 459 Latino voters surveyed, 55% said Harris is better or about the same as Biden on border security, compared with 39% who said she's just as bad or worse.
- Only 19% believe she's about the same, and 27% said she's worse.
Zoom in: Border security ranked only eighth among the top concerns for Latino voters, according to the poll.
- The top concerns for Latino voters were inflation (47%), housing affordability (24%), and jobs and wages (23%).
- Only 5% of Latinos said a path to citizenship is the most crucial issue.
What they're saying: Despite being part of the Biden administration, Harris is starting with a clean slate, John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll, told Axios' Sara Goo on Tuesday at an Axios Live event in Chicago. The poll is not associated with the vice president.
- Gerzema said half or more of Latino voters view Harris as just as good or better at providing a vision for the future than Biden.
- "She's got the benefit of the doubt and she's in a strong spot to start."
Context: In March 2021, Biden tapped Harris to lead the administration's coordination with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which were key sources of migration to the border.
- The announcement led to near-immediate confusion in the media and in the White House over how involved Harris would be, with Republicans and some news outlets, including Axios, giving Harris the unofficial monicker of "border czar."
- Shortly after, the border surge had grown into a full-blown humanitarian and political crisis, and calls mounted in spring 2021 for Harris to visit the border.
Almost as soon as Harris announced she would replace Biden as a Democratic candidate for president, the Trump campaign and Republicans tagged her as a "border czar" — which she never actually was.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) told Axios' Niala Boodhoo on Tuesday that she'll be looking for a Harris-Walz administration to push Congress on immigration reform and make it a significant priority.
Methodology: The findings in this Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll are based on a nationally representative sample of 3,604 U.S. adults conducted online from August 9-13, 2024, where 575 identified as Latino and 459 as Latino voters.
- The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the data for the overall population is accurate to within +/- 1.9 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.
- The data for Latino voters is accurate to within +/- 5.5 percentage points.
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