The recent interview between Donald Trump and Univision may have resulted in further alienating the Latino community from him. Trump’s interview with the Spanish-language network failed to acknowledge his previously harsh rhetoric aimed at Latinos, leaving many feeling he merely sought to flip-flop and avoid addressing those concerns.
Latino communities across the United States were already feeling the weight of Trump’s divisive rhetoric as he campaigned for president. However, some believed that Trump may have had an opportunity to make an effort to assure Latinos that he embraced them and their concerns. Trump’s Univision interview seemed to have done nothing to address those worries and instead added fuel to the fire by opting to speak about immigrant crime statistics and avoiding core issues.
This strategic approach may have been a miscalculation on Trump’s part, as people across the Latino spectrum have taken to social media and traditional media to voice their discontent with the interview. His popularity among key figures within the Latino community now appears to be at an all-time low, with many pointing out that the interview seemed to be nothing more than pandering designed to make Trump appear as if he was reaching out to Latinos.
Univision’s own personnel have expressed their disapproval of the interview, claiming they felt it was insincere and too generalized in its approach and failed to address the main issues. Many media members claim the interview was set up as a platform for Trump to avoid truly connecting with the Latino community, drawing the ire of people across the nation.
This criticism coincides with a recently released poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News which found that Trump’s favorable rating among Latinos has plummeted since the summer of 2015, a drop that is reflective of the overall sentiment within both the Latino and greater American communities.
The backlash for Trump’s Univision interview appears to be just the beginning of many more difficulties that stand in Trump’s way to winning back the Latino vote. With the failure of the interview to truly address the issues that matter, it would appear that Trump still has a long way to go if he is to win the hearts and minds of the Latino population.