Recent findings from an AP-NORC survey indicate a decline in President Donald Trump’s popularity among Hispanic adults since the year’s onset. This trend could serve as a cautionary signal for Republicans aiming to solidify their backing from this pivotal demographic, which played a crucial role in Trump’s 2024 election success.

The shift in sentiment might pose challenges for the GOP in future campaigns. Economic issues were a primary motivator for many Hispanic voters in the previous election. Despite Trump’s pledges of economic renewal, the poll reveals that Hispanic adults continue to experience greater financial pressures than the general American populace. In 2024, Hispanic voters comprised 10% of the electorate, according to AP VoteCast, a survey involving interviews with registered voters. Moreover, the pool of eligible Hispanic voters has been expanding rapidly over recent years.

Among those now expressing discontent is Alejandro Ochoa, a 30-year-old warehouse worker from Adelanto, California. A self-identified Republican, Ochoa supported Trump in the last election but has since become disillusioned. He voiced concerns over some of Trump’s budget cuts and lamented the persistent high cost of groceries and the unattainable dream of home ownership.

“Trump was banking on the nostalgia of pre-COVID days when things were cheaper,” Ochoa remarked. “But now, with him in office, I still find myself struggling at the grocery store. My expenses are sky-high, and despite trying to cut costs, the bills remain overwhelming.”

Declining approval on economy and immigration

While Hispanic voters did swing more towards Trump in the last election, a majority still favored Democrat Kamala Harris. According to AP VoteCast, 43% of Hispanic voters supported Trump nationally, an increase from the 35% who voted for him in the 2020 election, where he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

But the poll now finds that Hispanic adults are slightly less likely to approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and immigration — two issues that were major strengths for him in last year’s presidential campaign — and their views of his overall presidential performance have slipped a little as well.

In March, 41% of Hispanic adults approved of the way Trump was handling his job as president, but now that has fallen to 27%.

Over the past few months, Hispanic communities have also been a target of the president’s hard-line immigration tactics. The poll found that Hispanic adults’ approval of his handling of immigration has declined slightly since March.

Some see the two issues as linked. Trump’s attacks on immigration have affected low-wage and high-skilled workers alike, at a moment when the economy is already uncertain because of his erratic trade policies.

Fel Echandi, of Winter Haven, Florida, is a behavioral specialist who identifies as a Democrat but sometimes votes for Republican candidates. He said he appreciates Trump’s views on transgender issues, including restroom access for transgender women.

But he’s concerned that Trump’s immigration policies leave many people living in fear, with negative effects on the economy.

“A lot of people rely on immigrants to do labor in certain areas,” Echandi said. “When that gets affected, all prices go up. Our food costs more because of the costs to get people to do that work.”

The poll found particularly high levels of financial stress among Hispanic adults, compared with the rest of the country. More Hispanics say the cost of groceries, housing and health care and the amount of money they get paid are “major” sources of stress, compared with U.S. adults overall.

Favorability among Hispanic Republicans drops slightly

Views of Trump have even soured a little among Hispanic Republicans.

In the latest poll, 66% of Hispanic Republicans said they have a “very” or “somewhat” favorable view of Trump. That’s a slight shift compared with where Trump stood in an AP-NORC poll from September 2024, when 83% of Hispanic Republicans viewed him at least “somewhat” favorably. About 8 in 10 white Republicans had a favorable view of Trump in the new poll, which was unchanged from the year before.

In another potentially worrying sign for the president, younger Hispanics and Hispanic men — two groups that swung particularly dramatically toward him in last year’s election — also see him a bit more negatively.

About two-thirds of Hispanic adults under age 45 and Hispanic men now view Trump unfavorably, according to the new poll. That’s a slight uptick from September 2024, when about half in both groups had a negative opinion of him.

Other concerns about Trump’s chaotic second term emerged in interviews.

Teresa Covarrubias, a 65-year-old retired schoolteacher from Los Angeles, feels things are going in the wrong direction and said she was troubled by how some of Trump’s actions have defied norms and may impact social safety net programs.

“My major concern is the disregard for the Constitution and the law, and then also the level of cronyism,” said Covarrubias, who is an independent voter. “The people at the top are just grifting and taking, and then there’s the rest of us.”

Hispanic adults are more likely to prioritize immigration

There are signs in the poll that Trump’s tough immigration approach may be alienating some Hispanic adults. Over the past few months, the president has doubled down on his pledge of mass deportations, with escalating crackdowns in Latino neighborhoods in cities including Chicago.

The poll found that, in general, Hispanic adults are more likely to say immigration is an important issue to them personally. About two-thirds of Hispanic adults prioritize immigration, compared with about 6 in 10 white adults and about half of Black adults.

And although their views on immigration enforcement aren’t uniform, Hispanic adults are much less likely than U.S. adults overall to favor deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. About one-quarter of Hispanic adults support this policy, the new poll found, while roughly half of them are opposed and the rest don’t have an opinion. Among U.S. adults overall, about 4 in 10 favor deporting all immigrants in the U.S. illegally, while 34% are opposed and about 2 in 10 don’t have an opinion.

Rick Alvarado, 63, a Republican who lives in San Diego, says he still supports Trump and praised his actions to cut public spending. Alvarado, a property manager, is behind Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities including Los Angeles and Chicago, saying he believes some immigrants are involved in organized crime.

But he added that he would like to see a solution for those without criminal records to obtain legal residency status.

“The people who are productive should have a pathway to stay here somehow,” Alvarado said.

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for Hispanic adults overall is plus or minus 6.9 percentage points.