Poll brings attention to top-line issues for California’s Latino voters
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POLL PROVIDES LATINO PERSPECTIVE
Proposition 50 may be the talk of the town today, but a new nationwide poll of registered Latino voters, including 400 in California, may provide insight about what leaders should focus on next.
The poll, by UnidosUS, the country’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, found that the state’s Latino electorate is mostly focused on affordability and job protection, and wants national leadership to do more.
Some other takeaways from the poll in California:
58 percent hold President Donald Trump and the Republicans responsible for the government shutdown, 22% blame Democrats.
82 percent of voters are concerned Congress is giving too much power to the president and not performing checks-and-balances.
The most pressing concerns for Latino voters were cost of living/inflation, jobs and the economy, and housing costs. Immigration reform came in No. 5, after health care.
Only 50% of respondents had voted prior to 2020, and 75% said they planned to vote in 2026.
Gary Segura with UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute said California’s Latino population has serious power, but the Democrats have taken the Latino vote for granted, and the Republicans have seen the population’s vote as unattainable. Meanwhile, the electorate has not mobilized sufficiently to get the outcomes they want.
“A pox on both houses for not doing enough to mobilize the California Latino electorate,” he said. “My advice to candidates in both parties is that they need to get out there and speak to the largest constituency in the state and see what their policy needs are and act on them.”
The poll was conducted by a bipartisan team composed of BSP Research and Shaw & Company Research, and solicited responses via text, phone and online panel.
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER LAWSUIT
President Donald Trump’s administration is continuing its pattern of interfering with programs friendly to blue state policies, and Attorney General Rob Bonta is filing his 46th lawsuit of Trump’s second term to stop it.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education codified new limits on who can qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a Bush-era loan forgiveness program for people who serve 10 years in public sector jobs that was expanded during the Biden administration.
Under new guidelines, beginning July 1, 2026, a “qualified employer” is one that does not “have a substantial illegal purpose.” According to the department, those illegal purposes include aiding violations of federal immigration laws and engaging in “the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children in violation of Federal or State law,” among other things.
“This is just the latest example of Trump weaponizing our government to wage his culture war,” said Bonta during a news conference Monday.
“The administration can’t exclude an eligible organization just because it provides legal services to immigrants or provides gender-affirming care to minors or participates in legal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or engages in civil protests and the right to assembly.”
Bonta said as of 2024, more than 81,000 Californians have received over $6 billion in PSLF forgiveness, a large increase from the very few Californians who’d qualified during a 2019 Bee analysis.
The department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, although officials did explain their reasoning in a press release Thursday.
“The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was meant to support Americans who dedicate their careers to public service – not to subsidize organizations that violate the law, whether by harboring illegal immigrants or performing prohibited medical procedures that attempt to transition children away from their biological sex,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Partial funding simply isn’t sufficient to keep food on the tables of American families who have already missed their benefits due to the Administration’s reckless and illegal inaction. There can be no further delay in releasing the full funding for SNAP benefits.”
— Congressional Black Caucus regarding the planned distribution of partial SNAP benefits
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