Biden Aims to Reenergize Latino Voters in Nevada Ahead of Election
LAS VEGAS — President Joe Biden is seeking to solidify his support among disillusioned voters, a crucial demographic for his reelection bid, as he meets with members of a Latino civil rights organization in the pivotal state of Nevada on Wednesday.
Biden is scheduled to address the UnidosUS annual conference in Las Vegas, where he will announce that beginning August 19, certain U.S. citizens’ spouses without legal status can begin applying for permanent residency and eventually citizenship without the requirement of first leaving the country, according to the White House. This new program, initially unveiled by Biden last month, could potentially benefit over half a million immigrants.
Biden is also expected to highlight in his speech the record-low Latino unemployment rate, the increased access to health insurance within the community, and the federal government’s doubling of Small Business Administration loans to Latino business owners since 2020.
The gathering with Latino activists coincides with the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, and comes at a time when Biden faces challenges in stabilizing his reelection campaign, which has experienced setbacks since his underwhelming June 27 debate performance against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The campaign has faced further complications due to a failed assassination attempt on Trump by a 20-year-old shooter on Saturday in Pennsylvania.
Biden relies heavily on strong support from Black and Latino voters — two groups that were instrumental in his victory in 2020 but whose support has shown signs of waning — to secure four more years in the White House.
Biden, in an interview with BET News on Tuesday, asserted that he still has ample time to energize voters.
“Whether it’s young Blacks, young whites, young Hispanics, or young Asian Americans, they’ve never focused till after Labor Day,” Biden said in the interview. “The idea that they’re intently focused on the election right now is not there.”
However, headwinds against Biden had been mounting even before his disappointing debate performance triggered calls for his withdrawal from the campaign from Democratic lawmakers and donors.
Hispanic Americans currently hold a less positive view of Biden than they did when he assumed office. Forty-five percent of Hispanic adults have a somewhat or very favorable opinion of Biden, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in June, down from about 6 in 10 in January 2021. The June poll revealed that half of Hispanic adults had an unfavorable view of Biden.
Biden delivered remarks in Las Vegas on Tuesday at the annual NAACP convention, arguing that Trump’s four years in the White House were “hell” for Black Americans. He criticized Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the surge in unemployment early in the pandemic, and divisive rhetoric that he claimed unnecessarily divided Americans.
He also mocked Trump for claiming that migrants who have entered the U.S. under the Democratic administration are stealing “Black jobs.”
“I know what a Black job is. It’s the vice president of the United States,” Biden said referring to Vice President Kamala Harris. He added that she “could be president.”
Biden also emphasized his appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and his service as vice president under Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
The UnidosUS conference presents Biden with another opportunity to contrast his immigration approach with Trump’s. Trump’s immigration strategy includes a push for mass deportations and rhetoric portraying migrants as dangerous criminals “poisoning the blood” of America.
This new Biden administration plan was announced weeks after Biden unveiled a sweeping crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border that effectively halted asylum claims for those arriving between officially designated ports of entry. Immigrant-rights groups have filed lawsuits against the Biden administration over this directive, which the administration officials maintain has led to fewer border encounters between ports.
Biden is also anticipated to sign an executive order establishing a White House initiative on advancing opportunities at what are known as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, a group of approximately 500 two-year and four-year colleges across the country that have significant Hispanic populations.