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By Andrew Stanton
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President Donald Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic and Latino voters improved in the latest national Emerson College poll.
A plurality of Hispanic and Latino voters still disapproved of the president. His net approval among the group stood at a net -2.1 points. But that marks an improvement from the pollster’s December 2025 survey, when Trump’s net approval among Hispanic and Latino voters was -29.7 points.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.
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Why It Matters
Hispanic and Latino voters emerged as a new swing demographic in the 2024 presidential election. Although the group has historically supported Democrats, it was more divided in the most recent election, backing former Vice President Kamala Harris by only 5 percentage points, per CNN exit polling.
This helped Trump flip battleground states like Arizona and Nevada, while giving Republicans improved margins in states like Florida and Texas as well. Whether Democrats can win back Hispanic and Latino voters who shifted to the right remains a key question for the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
What To Know
The Emerson College poll released on Friday found that 43.3 percent of Hispanic or Latino voters approve of Trump, compared to 45.4 percent who disapprove of his job performance around one year into his second term in office.
In December, 57.9 percent of Hispanic and Latino voters disapproved of Trump’s job performance, while just 28.2 percent gave him positive marks at the time.
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The latest poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters from January 17-19, 2026, while the earlier poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters from December 14-15, 2025. Both had margins of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Overall, the January poll found that 51 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance and 43 percent approve, giving him a net approval rating of -8 points.
What Do Other Polls Show About Trump’s Approval Rating?
Other recent polling shows a weaker Trump approval among Hispanic and Latino voters.
Polling crosstabs at times can produce large swings that are not always replicated by other polling. Surveys of how Hispanic and Latino voters view the Trump administration have varied in their results over the past year. Some polls have shown his support falling off, but others have shown him maintaining that support.
The latest poll from YouGov and The Economist poll showed Trump’s net approval among Hispanic voters at -15 points, with 55 percent disapproving and 40 percent approving. His overall approval rating in that poll stood at -20, with 57 percent disapproving and 37 percent approving.
It surveyed 1,722 American adults from January 16-19, 2026.
A poll from The New York Times and Siena College showed that 59 percent of Hispanic voters disapprove of the president, while 39 percent approve of his job performance. Overall, 40 percent of Americans approved of the president, and 57 percent disapproved.
It surveyed 1,625 registered voters from January 12-17, 2026.
How Hispanic and Latino Voters Have Shifted Over the Years
Trump came close to winning Latino voters in 2024, according to CNN exit polling. They backed Harris by only a 5-point margin, giving her 51 percent of the vote and Trump 46 percent.
That’s a major shift from 2020, when they gave former President Joe Biden 65 percent of the vote and Trump 32 percent. Even that was a slight rightward shift from 2016, when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 66 percent of Latino voters, and Trump won only 28 percent.
What People Are Saying
Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, wrote in the polling memo: “Venezuela is the Trump administration’s top issue in the survey among Hispanic voters, who approve of the administration’s actions 44% to 37%, while Black voters disapprove 72% to 18%. White voters are split: 43% approve and 42% disapprove.”
Trump criticized polls in a post to Truth Social after the Times survey released on Thursday, writing: “Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense. As an example, all of the Anti Trump Media that covered me during the 2020 Election showed Polls that were knowingly wrong.”
What Happens Next
Trump’s approval rating will continue to be closely watched heading into the midterms, when Democrats hope to take back control of the House and the Senate. Whether or not they can win back Hispanic and Latino voters could be a key factor in battleground races.
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