Small Arizona border town shows unexpected political change that nobody saw coming
San Luis Arizona with its 90% Spanish-speaking population became ground-zero for biggest political shift in US voting patterns. Local community shows how education-level impacts modern-day political choices
In San Luis Arizona (a small town near mexican border) theres an unexpected political change happening - the biggest swing from democrat to republican voters in whole US. The town which used to be solid-blue now shows different colors
The local stats paint an interesting picture: nine-in-ten residents speak Spanish at home three-quarters are under 45 years old and most work at state-prison school-district or Walmart. The towns voting pattern changed a lot - while Barack Obama got 88% votes here about 12 years ago Joe Biden only managed to get 73% (which shows biggest nation-wide drop in democratic support)
I love the poorly educated
Education level became a key factor in voting choices. Non-college voters are moving away from democrats - a trend that started way back in Reagan times. For example: in early 2000s people without degrees supported democrats but by last election they switched sides
Local family stories show this change clearly. Lizeth Servin a democrat and college grad cant believe her son Isai supports trump. The 18-year old sends his mom tik-tok videos about politics everyday and thinks trumpʼs business background could fix economy
- Job opportunities
- Border security
- Cost of living issues
Gary Garcia Snyder local republican organizer sees big changes: “trump signs stay up now - they used to disappear in minutes“. He points to inflation migrant issues and economic struggles as main reasons for peoples changing minds
The shift affects long-time democratic supporters too. Isaac Pedro 19 who works as democrat canvasser isnt sure about his own vote. He likes some republican tax ideas but agrees with democrats on other topics - showing how complex political choices have become in this border-town community
