How a new generation of Latino men are redefining machismo through politics
For years, Donald Trump has made derogatory statements about Latinos and immigrants. Still, Trump captured 47% of the Latino vote in 2024—a wider margin than he ever has before and the highest share ever for a Republican presidential candidate.
The shift reveals a complex intersection of economic concerns, social media influence and changing cultural dynamics, particularly among young Latino men. Trends reveal that Latinos are voting more conservatively, even in major cities like Chicago and Philadelphia.
“Young Hispanics do not have the same muscle memory as their grandparents who voted for Democrats for 50 years,” Republican media strategist Giancarlo Sopo, who worked on Latino outreach for Trump’s 2020 campaign, told Reuters Thursday.
Young Latino men in particular who may be raised in conservative households are additionally consuming “manosphere” content which promotes hypermasculinity and the same content creators they’re following have expressed alliance to Trump.
Latinos are not a monolith but maybe their concerns are
While political analysts often treat Latino voters as a unified bloc, their backgrounds span from fifth-generation Mexican Americans in Texas to recent Venezuelan immigrants in Florida, each group bringing distinct political perspectives and priorities..
For instance, Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) breakdown of the Latino vote by heritage shows Cubans led the Latino vote for Trump with 58%. Historically, most Cubans in the U.S. are Republican and have higher voter turnout than other Latino communities. Through Cold War conflict, this group has also been granted entrance into the U.S. in which no other Latino group has been allowed, making for a different immigrant story and placing a distance between Cubans in America and other refugees and immigrants.
“Despite our good fortune, far too many Cuban Americans in South Florida heartlessly espouse MAGA-fueled anti-immigration sentiments toward equally worthy refugees. Too often, my fellow Cuban Americans let their sense of exceptionalism cloud their hearts. Have decades of comfort snuffed out their empathy?” Cuban American columnist Lizette Alvarez wrote in a 2022 Washington Post op-ed.
For comparison, South Americans were the second largest group of Latinos for Trump, 41% of the vote. Followed by 37% of Puerto Ricans and 36% of Central Americans. About 33% of Mexicans voted for Trump, according to AS/COA data.
Immigration is a prominent Latino origin story, but that has changed. Not only are 81% of Latinos in the U.S. citizens, but most are U.S. born. In 2020, 68% of Latinos in the country were born here, up from 60% in 2000, according to UCLA.
Balta said that politicians view Latinos through their race and culture, but aren’t appealing to how Latinos view themselves: as Americans. Many of whom are blue collar workers who feel ignored by the establishment.
“So when we’re talking about the Latino electorate, we’re talking about American citizens and not just naturalized citizens… and then you’re also talking about second, third [and] in Texas four and five generations of Latinos, so they very much see themselves as Americans,” he said.
Though distanced from their country of origin, many of which have heavy religious and machismo influences in their culture, young U.S. born Latinos are facing a new wave of conservatism pushed by the media they consume.
Despite years of insults, Latinos voted for Trump
Trump’s historic gains with Latino voters came despite a long history of controversial statements about the community. In his 2015 presidential campaign announcement, he characterized Mexican immigrants as “bringing drugs…crime… rapists.” His promised Mexican border wall remained largely unbuilt, with Mexico refusing to spend a dime. More recently, he targeted Venezuelan immigrants as criminals and made unsubstantiated claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs during the 2024 presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
The latest Latino-aimed mishap came during an Oct. 27 Trump rally at Madison Square Garden when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” a statement that didn’t land well in a city home to 574,000 Puerto Ricans.
Despite all of this, Trump made historic gains among Latino voters.
More Latinos voted for Trump this year than in past elections, gaining 45% of the vote, 13% more than he did in 2020, according to NBC exit polls, a record high for a Republican presidential candidate. Though intersectional data on how many young Latinos chose Trump has not been released, the exit poll data that is available reveals a lot:
- 55% of Latino men and 38% of Latino women voted for Trump
- 40% of Latino voters age 18 to 29 voted Trump, compared to 43% of all voters age 18 to 29
“While the dust is still settling on how Latinos actually voted in this election, it’s clear that our community is primarily concerned with the economy and the same pocketbook issues as other Americans, such as the rising costs of food, housing and other essentials. Deep concerns with inflation and making ends meet almost singularly drove how Hispanics voted in this election,” UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía said in a statement on Thursday.
Throughout the political season polls consistently showed that the economy was the top issue for the vast majority of Latinos. Polling published by Pew Research Center in September found that 85% of Latinos said the economy was important for their vote this year, but among Latinos who said they were voting for Trump 93% cited the economy as their top issue, followed by violent crime, 73%, and immigration, 71%.
“Latinos were saying, ‘I don’t care what Trump says. I want to be able to pay the bills. I want to be able to send my kid to college. I want to pay the mortgage, to afford a new car,’” University of Houston political science professor Jeronimo Cortina told Axios.
Publisher of Latino News Network, Hugo Balta, shared with Illinois Public Media that Latinos were able to look past Trump’s remarks because affording to support their families is more important.
“People are appalled by it and certainly are against it but they’re not voting necessarily based on Donald Trump’s rhetoric, disparaging comments, [or] insults to the Latino community, they’re voting to put food on the table, to put a roof over their head and to support their families,” Balta said.
Young people who attended the Democratic National Convention in August also told Reckon that the economy was a core issue in their decision-making at the polls.
“[The economy is] something I think is in the back of young Americans’ minds for almost every decision, and something I think about all the time,” 24-year-old Jessica Siles said. “It’s definitely helped decide for me what areas I can and can’t live in.”
Why is Gen Z getting so conservative?
Both candidates attempted to meet young people online by implementing social media into their campaigns in interesting ways which haven’t been done before. Harris’ use of Charlie XCX’s lime green brat imagery and borrowing of Chappel Roan’s Midwest Princess camo hat gained traction among young women and queer folks. Harris appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, while Trump opted for Theo Von and Joe Rogan, whose audience alone reaches over 14.5 million followers —predominantly young men.
Leading up to Election Day Trump received endorsements or support from many stars of the manosphere, an online ecosystem of male-focused content promoting traditional masculinity and anti-feminist views. These included Twitter/X owner Elon Musk’s ongoing support and a Nov. 4 endorsement from Rogan. The Joe Rogan Experience is the top streaming podcast with an audience consisting of 80% males, 51% between the ages of 18 and 34, and 21% identifying as Hispanic or Latino, according to Edison Research.
Trends have shown Gen Z men leaning more conservative, feeling that their future is uncertain and their identities are threatened, according to the 2023 State of American Men report by Equimundo, an organization working to promote gender equity by engaging men and boys in partnership with other genders. The report also revealed that 53% of men believe that men in America today have it harder than women and that men between the ages of 18 to 23 have the least amount of optimism for their future and the lowest levels of social support.
The gender divide among Latino voters reflects a dramatic national shift. While young Latino men are increasingly drawn to conservative media and traditional masculinity, Gallup data shows young women ages 18-29 are moving sharply left. The ideological gap between young men and women has quintupled since 2000, with young women now 15% more likely to identify as liberal than their male counterparts. This polarization extends beyond politics—71% of Democratic college students say they wouldn’t date someone who voted for the opposing presidential candidate, suggesting these ideological divisions could reshape social relationships within Latino communities.
This leaves many men to seek community in the manosphere, which has helped push extremist ideology around gender roles into young men’s minds and American politics.
“It is a subculture that seems to give young men a sense of identity and belonging in a world where they’re not really finding that elsewhere,” Margot Peppers, consumer trends editor at Foresight Factory, who conducted a report on the rise of anti feminism in the U.S. last year, told Reckon in January.
Key figures in this movement like Andrew Tate promote male dominance and incel rhetoric, which has been linked to violent crime in some males.
The identity of Latino men is the U.S is shifting, deepening the machismo ideology they may have grown up around through consumption of American-bred white supremacy and male dominance.
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