Three in Ten U.S. Latinos Describe Themselves as 'Conservatives,' the Second-Largest Group in Country

The 2024 Multicultural Demographics study by Collage Group shed light on some of the biggest trends involving multicultural Americans, a demographic that has increased by nearly 4 million people since 2021. Findings touch upon an array of topics including access to education, representation in the labor force and purchasing power. But one of the most eye-catching stats has to do with how Latinos identify with political views at the moment.

When asked if they identify as liberal, centrist or conservative, 30% of Latinos answered in favor of the latter, making them the biggest conservative demographic only behind Whites. These numbers coincide with findings from recent polls, such as a one conducted by USA TODAY/Suffolk University in January, that which Joe Biden trailing Donald Trump 39-34% with the Latino demographic. For perspective, the same study indicated that in 2020 Biden received 65% of the support compared to Trump's 32%.

It's worth pointing out, however, that a majority of Latinos still identifies as liberal (34%) while 16% consider themselves centrist and 21% felt the question didn't apply to them. Blacks, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly liberal (37%) as are Asians (35%) while only 26% of Whites identify as such.

The shift in political views could hold important implications for the upcoming elections, especially considering that Hispanics are the largest multicultural group in the U.S. with over 63 million people and are projected to represent 14.7% of eligible voters in 2024, according to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center.

The study by Collage Group also showed that most of the population is concentrated in the Southwestern United States which includes places such as Arizona (1.3 million eligible Latino voters), a heavily disputed state during the 2020 elections.

Overall, California is the state with the most eligible voters, being the home of some 8.5 million, a quarter of all Latinos in this category. "The next biggest states by number of Latino eligible voters are Texas (6.5 million), Florida (3.5 million), New York (2.2 million) and Arizona (the mentioned 1.3 million). Together, these five states hold about two-thirds (65%) of all Hispanic eligible voters," said Pew's article.

"In California and Texas, Hispanics are about a third of the eligible voter population (33% and 32%, respectively), while the ones with the next-largest "Latino shares of eligible voters are Arizona (25%), Nevada (22%), Florida (22%), Colorado (17%) and New Jersey (16%)," Pew added.

Elsewhere, the study also provided valuable insight into everything from the growth in average annual expenditures (Latinos have increased theirs by 52 points) to the distribution of the Latino population according to nationality (Mexicans account for 59%). The study even delved into what general descriptors Latinos prefer to be referred as, favoring Hispanic (72%) and Latino/Latina (72%) over words like Latinx (37%) and Latine (36%).