“Ice Age” and “Super Mario Bros.” actor John Leguizamo offered his take on why former President Trump is polling well among Latino voters, stating that the demographic incorrectly sees Biden as the source of their current economic woes. He also described the economy as “doing great.”
The politically outspoken liberal actor said in an interview with Salon last week that Latino Americans do not understand that Trump was really the person who damaged the economy, not the current president.
“Because Latinos, they’re blaming him [Biden] for the economy, which they shouldn’t be because COVID was the culprit and Trump not handling COVID was the culprit in damaging our economy.”
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Actor John Leguizamo recently slammed Latino American voters who are supporting former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election. (Getty Images)
Leguizamo’s point came in response to new polling data from Axios/Ipsos, and other groups, showing that Latinos overwhelmingly support Trump over Biden on key issues like the economy.
The Axios/Ipsos poll found only 20% of Latinos think Biden is “good for the U.S. economy,” while 42% of respondents said the same about Trump. Latinos also favor Trump on immigration, crime and public safety.
Meanwhile, a NY Times/Siena College poll from last month found that Biden has 50% support among Latino voters, which is historically low for a Democratic presidential candidate.
Despite admitting that there is damage to the economy Latino voters are feeling in the previous statement, Leguizamo proceeded to tell Salon that the economy is “doing great.”
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He added, “But our economy is doing great. It’s just inflation that’s messing up everybody’s paycheck. So, I understand that.”
Leguizamo also stated that Democratic Party politicians have to do better about winning over the multi-faceted Latino voting bloc.
“But also Latinos are not monolithic,” he said. “Just like the Black community’s not monolithic, just like White folks. You got to come at us from all kinds of different angles and you got to come for us.”
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A major share of Latino American voters trust Trump on the U.S. economy over President Biden. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
He accused the party of failing in this regard last presidential election, stating, “The Democrats messed up in 2020 and did nothing. Did not spend dollars on us, did not have Latin consultants, did not fund our grassroots organizations, and our grassroots organizations gave us Arizona. They tried to give us Texas and they got close.”
“Florida was difficult, but Republicans spent money, assets. They came at us through WhatsApp in Arizona and Texas and Florida, went to our radio stations, Spanish-speaking stations, gave them the right trigger words. Democrats need to step it up, need to fund our grassroots organizations,” the actor added.
Leguizamo, who has been a Trump critic for years, expressed frustration over Trump’s building support among Latinos earlier this year. While guest hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” last month, the actor punched a piñata on air in response to the recent polls.
During another stint as guest host in November, Leguizamo raged against Univision for hosting an interview with Trump that month.
“I thought it would be a dope opportunity to confront him on his hardline anti-Latino policies,” Leguizamo said. “But instead of an interview worthy of Univision, we saw this caca mierda,” a crude term roughly translating to excrement.
Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark and Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
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