With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, Latino voters in Texas are drawing increased attention from both major political parties. But new polling suggests many of those voters aren't hearing directly from either side.
With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, Latino voters in Texas are drawing increased attention from both major political parties. But new polling suggests many of those voters aren’t hearing directly from either side.
A UnidosUS flash poll of Texas Hispanic primary voters found 53% said they had not been contacted by any political party, campaign or organization about voting in the primary — despite the survey focusing on people who had already voted or were certain to vote.
Clarissa Martínez De Castro, vice president of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS, highlighted the finding during an Aug. 28 American Community Media briefing examining changes within the Latino electorate ahead of the November midterms.
“53% of Hispanic voters in Texas who voted said they had not heard from any candidate or party,” Martínez De Castro said.
The finding comes as Latino voters account for more than a quarter of registered voters in Texas, according to UnidosUS.
Panelists cautioned against interpreting recent shifts among Latino voters as a straightforward move from one political party to another.
María Isabel Di Franco Quiñonez, senior research director at Equis Research, said polling and election results point toward an electorate that is increasingly willing to move between candidates and parties.
“What we had actually started to see was a dealignment — less Latino voters identifying with the Democratic Party and more identifying as independents,” she said.
Di Franco Quiñonez said Equis’ latest polling found about 14% of Latino voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024 now say they would support a Democrat in November, while another 10% are undecided.
That movement, she cautioned, shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as enthusiasm for Democrats.
“We’ve seen great levels of skepticism and frustration with both parties,” she said.
The economy repeatedly emerged during the briefing as a major factor shaping Latino voters’ decisions.
Martínez De Castro said four of the top five concerns in UnidosUS polling are pocketbook issues: cost of living, wages and jobs, housing and health care, with immigration ranking fifth.
Texas-specific polling released by UnidosUS in May found similar concerns. Among 500 registered Latino voters surveyed in the state, 62% named cost of living among their top priorities, followed by wages and the economy at 40%, health care costs at 35% and housing at 21%. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Immigration remains important, panelists said, but Latino voters’ views cannot easily be reduced to either support for or opposition to immigration enforcement.
Martínez De Castro said voters distinguish between wanting an orderly immigration system and concerns about how enforcement is carried out in communities.
The broader picture emerging from the briefing was not one of a Latino electorate firmly shifting from one party to another.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political strategist and author of The Latino Century, described the movement as part of a longer-term weakening of attachment to both major parties.
“Notice, I’m not saying to Democrats. I’m being very deliberate in my word choice,” Madrid said. “They’re moving away from Republicans.”
For Texas candidates, the more immediate challenge may be simpler: reach the voters.
With Latino voters representing more than a quarter of the state’s registered electorate, the finding that 53% of highly engaged Hispanic primary voters reported no contact from a party, campaign or organization suggests a sizable communication gap heading toward November.
And in an electorate panelists repeatedly described as increasingly independent and responsive to economic conditions, that gap leaves plenty still unsettled.
