Are Racial and Ethnic Minority Voters Abandoning the Democrats?

Abstract For decades, the Democratic Party has commanded the overwhelming support of racial and ethnic minority voters in the United States. While a majority of Black, Latino, and Asian American voters continue to vote for the Democrats, recent elections and polls have suggested that Republicans are making inroads. The 2024 Democratic electorate was whiter than it had been in 2012, even though the US has become more racially diverse in that same period. There has been much speculation in the media over Donald Trump’s apparent appeal to some racial and ethnic minority voters, but not enough attention has been given to differences between and within racial and ethnic minority groups. This article emphasizes key differences. African Americans have remained more loyal to the Democratic Party than Latino and Asian American electorates. The article then examines class and ideological differences within racial and ethnic groups. It finds that while working-class and conservative Latinos and Asian Americans have joined the Republican fold, the same cannot be said to the same extent for working-class or conservative African Americans. Intergenerational partisan socialization is identified as a key difference.