Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launched a bus tour September 3, 2024 to highlight the Democratic ticket’s focus on reproductive freedom. Kicking off in Palm Beach, Florida, home to former President Donald Trump, the tour takes direct aim at contrasting the Harris-Walz campaign’s defense of reproductive rights with Donald Trump’s flip-flopping stances on state and national abortion policy.
Among Latino voters, reproductive freedom is a powerful campaign issue for the Vice President. A survey conducted last month by Hispanic Federation and Latino Victory found that abortion is the #1 issue Harris on which leads Trump among Latino voters. Sixty-three percent of Latinos said they trust Harris to “ensure access to abortion and reproductive rights for women to make their own choices.” She enjoys 48-point advantage over Trump among Latinos on this issue.
Harris has maintained a consistent advantage among Latino voters on the issue or reproductive rights. A national poll of Latinos conducted by Unidos US at the end of last year found that Latinos believe Democrats would do a better job handling the issue of abortion, with nearly 3 in 4 Latinos saying that they believe making abortion illegal and taking that choice away from someone is wrong, despite their personal beliefs on the issue. According to a July 2024 Somos poll conducted soon after Harris assumed the Democratic nomination, Latino voters were 61 percent more positive about Harris after learning that she was a strong defender of abortion rights. The persistent myth that Latinos are not pro-choice is false. Abortion is legal in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, and U.S. Latinos demonstrate greater than 70 percent support for abortion rights for women who need it.
The UnidosUS 2023 findings are consistent with an April 2024, three-state poll by the Latino Community Foundation that found that 78 percent of Latinos would be more likely to vote for a candidate running in 2024 if he or she supported “passing a law to guarantee access to abortion for women who need it.” These results confirm that Latino voters care about reproductive freedom, and that they see a clear contrast between Harris and Trump on this critical issue. Similar to 2022 midterm results, candidates who emphasize reproductive rights can win over Latino voters in 2024.
