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The Hispanic shift away from the Democratic Party – and specifically the dangerously incompetent Biden administration – is something Americans for Limited Government Foundation has been watching closely. New polling shows Biden’s approval rating is continuing to sink, and more Hispanics now want Trump to run for president again than want Biden to.
The increasingly radicalized nature of the globalist elite, who prioritize lining their own pockets at the expense of the working class, handing over sovereignty to draconian globalist institutions, and weakening our ability to defend ourselves if threatened, has resulted in a significant decline in support for Democrats among Hispanics.
The latest YouGov survey shows Biden’s polling numbers have sunk nearly twenty percentage points with Latinos since he took office. Former President Trump’s approval rating has been climbing steadily over the same period.
The share of Latinos who say Trump should run again is up 14 points since he left office going from 22% in January 2021 to 36% today. Meanwhile, just 28% of Latinos want a Biden re-run and a solid 57% say Biden should not run again.
The exodus of Latinos away from the Democratic Party escalated in 2020 despite a relentless smear campaign from virtually all major institutions, outright censorship, and highly questionable election tactics to keep Trump out of office. Trump’s share of the Hispanic vote rose from 28% in 2016 to 38% in 2020 anyway.
Despite similar tactics, Democrats suffered heavy losses with Latinos in 2022 compared to 2018. Democrats lost 21 points with Latino men, going from winning them by 29 points in 2018 to just 8 points in 2022. Latino women also supported Democrats by 14 points less in 2022 than 2018. These are not insignificant shifts, but are hard evidence that the far-left is incapable of deluding Hispanics that it is will solve the problems it creates.
The Florida governor’s race last year was a particularly stark example of the Hispanic shift, but it was Trump’s ground game in 2020 that put Latino-heavy strongholds like Miami-Dade County in play. Thanks to a ground game that targeted low-propensity voters, Trump won roughly 200,000 more votes in Miami-Dade in 2020 than he did in 2016. Biden ended up winning about 8000 votes fewer than Clinton did in 2016. Trump didn’t win Miami-Dade like DeSantis did in 2022, but DeSantis only achieved 74% of Trump’s 2020 vote total despite winning the county. Democrats maxed out their turnout in 2016 and 2020 and Trump managed to turn out an extra 200,000 votes in Miami-Dade while Democrats simply gave up.
Whether this model can be replicated with other candidates remains to be seen, but Trump himself is a formidable force and is the frontrunner GOP pick for Latinos in virtually every poll.
There are ample reasons why Hispanics are fleeing the Democratic Party in droves, but the economy is the most glaring issue. An NBC News/Telemundo poll shows Latinos disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy 54% to 41% and disapprove of the cost of living under Biden 60% to 35%. The same poll found Latinos say 39% to 33% that Biden’s economic policies have hurt more than they have helped and 54% of Latinos say their family income is declining due to rising living expenses. Latinos also disapprove of Biden’s handling of border security 51% to 42%.
YouGov polls show Latinos say 51% to 35% the country is off on the wrong track, and over half say the economy is in a recession. Twenty-five percent of Hispanics cite inflation/gas prices as their most important issue, compared to 19% of Whites and 18% of African Americans. Hispanics also say by a three to one margin that inflation is a bigger issue than unemployment.
Hispanics are also extremely critical of the outcome of the 2020 election looking back. One poll found 23% of Hispanics do not believe Biden won the presidency, and less than half (43%) are excited about Biden.
An increasing number of Hispanics also blame Biden for the illegal immigrant crisis at the southern border. Hispanics disapprove of Biden’s response to the immigration crisis by a margin of 41% to 37% according to YouGov surveys.
Hispanics also have major hesitations about Biden’s competence. The latest YouGov survey shows a full 36% of Latinos would feel ‘uneasy’ about how Biden would handle an international crisis.
The same poll shows less than half of Latinos (48%) say Biden is honest and trustworthy, and a full 51% think Biden says what he wants people to hear, not what he means. Only 33% say they believe Biden says what he means.
This is in stark contrast to impressions of former President Trump. Although at times Trump used coarse language, he gave the impression that he was telling people what he thought, not what he thought they wanted to hear.
It is not only President Biden’s wildly incompetent economic policies that are causing Hispanics to defect. At the core, many Latino values are simply misaligned with the pillars of the globalist left: hatred for capitalism, the rule of law, and America First values.
The NRSC Hispanic Battleground survey found Latinos support capitalism over socialism by a margin of 63% to 17%. What is more, 58% of Latinos believe too many Americans are living off the government and 50% say Democrat policies hurt families. Over two-thirds of Latinos (67%) say too many Americans are losing traditional values centered on faith, family, and freedom.
Americans for Limited Government’s 2018 immigration survey found over two-thirds of Hispanics (67%) consider themselves Conservative or Moderate on economic issues, and slightly smaller shares consider themselves Conservative or Moderate on healthcare, education, and moral issues like same-sex marriage.
As the Democratic Party continues to move left on social issues and fails to address the economic concerns of working-class Latino voters, expect to see more cracks in the Democratic coalition. Latinos have supported Democrats in recent election cycles, but that advantage is rapidly shrinking, and Biden has done more to push Latinos away from the Democratic Party than he has to build lasting support. Latinos have serious concerns about Biden’s competency and they outright disagree with the major pillars of the modern Democratic Party.
While the propagandists in the mainstream media and virtually every institution continue to vilify former President Trump, his popularity has risen with Hispanics since he left office and the economy entered a death spin. The incompetence of the globalist left to solve the issues it has created is creating an opportunity for Trump to rally economically-motivated Latinos behind America First priorities again.

Edie Littlefield Sundby’s life took a turn when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and lost a lung to the disease.
To help fight the depression and despair, she started walking the 1,600-mile El Camino Real de las Californias mission trail that runs from northern California into Mexico. It was a way to heal herself physically and spiritually. Now she’s walking the Old Spanish Trail from southern California to the Atlantic coast of Florida, recently passing through Broussard, New Iberia, Jeanerette, Baldwin and Franklin.
“I’m walking to slow life down,” Sundby said. “I certainly don’t want to walk fast. I’m walking to connect with people, with places, with God. As John Muir said, walking washes our spirit clean. But one of the things I think is true is that walking clears out our minds. It cleans our spirit, but it clears our minds.
“And in today’s world, we’ve got to be able to get out and purge out. God told Job, ‘pour out they overflowings’ (of anger), and we’re filled with all these overflowings today: noise and distractions. So you get out here, you slow life down. Pour out all the overflowings. And what happens to you is what fills that space is grace, and you feel this most amazing sense of transcendence and peace and acceptance.”
She said that the national media likes to stress the things that divide people, but she’s found it different when she’s away from the drama that consumes people’s lives daily through social media and negative news.
“When you get out here, there’s none of that,” she said. “We’re all one. We’re all spiritual beings doing our best. Of course, some days are better than others. But we’re all just people. When I’m out here, God is in his glory, and all is right with the world.
“It’s the spiritual stuff. It just brings you to your knees every day, every day.”
Now that she’s walking the Old Spanish Trail in Louisiana, Sundby has been amazed at how friendly everyone has been, especially in smaller communities and rural areas.
The Old Spanish Trail follows U.S. 90 and La. 182 at various points in South Louisiana. After going through St. Mary Parish this week, she was headed toward Houma later in the week.
She’s been greeted by almost everyone she’s seen in the rural areas she’s walked in South Louisiana.
“Friendly as they can be,” she said. “I’m a stranger — I look weird. I’m a stranger in a strange land. They’ll be on the porch, and they’ll wave at me, or they’ll be in the driveway and wave at me. They’re just as friendly as they can be.
“’Texas’ means friendly in Spanish. I don’t know what Louisiana means other than King Louis, but it’s as friendly a place as I’ve ever been.”
She’s also loved the way each community differentiates itself, from Sulphur with its “Faith, Family and Community” signs to Crowley (Rice Capital of the World) and Rayne (Frog Capital of the World) and Scott (Boudin Capital of the World) and Jeanerette (Sugar City).
Sundby, 71, wrote a book (The Mission Walker) about her experience walking the Mission Trail.
“I started walking that (trail) six months after I lost my right lung,” she said. “It’s not exercise, you know. It’s walking to breathe, and walking to live, and walking to heal.”
After finishing that journey, Sundby wasn’t ready to give up walking and is now on the Louisiana leg of her walk of the 2,817-mile Old Spanish Trail that runs from southern California to the Atlantic coast of Florida. She began the 300-plus mile Louisiana journey on Feb. 5 at the old burned-out U.S. 90 bridge between Texas and Louisiana at the Sabine River in Calcasieu Parish.
“Walkers, we need a place to walk,” Sundby said. “You need a purpose, and these old trails are fantastic. Some people say, ‘it’s not old, it’s not Spanish,’ and that’s hogwash.”
She noted that she stopped at a faded historical marker in Sorrel, a small St. Mary Parish community between Jeanerette and Baldwin, which states that the community is the site of one of the early ranches along the Old Cattle Route from Mexico (now Texas) to Vacherie on the Mississippi River. The cattle ranch, started by Jacques Joseph Sorrel in the 1750s, covered some 3,000 acres, according to the marker.
Sundby said she’s enjoyed meeting people on her walk through South Louisiana.
“I can’t even begin to tell you,” she said. “I have people stop every day, wherever I am, and say, ‘Are you okay? Can I help you?’ Or, ‘Can I give you some water? Do you need some food?’ Just in the middle of nowhere, people will pull over and stop. It’s beyond friendly.”
She is walking alone, though her husband has accompanied her for most of the trip in their camper van. On Monday, though, he had to go to Colorado to deal with a work emergency. So now her oldest sister’s granddaughter has come out “on a little adventure” and is driving the camper van.
“I do walk alone because who else wants to do something like this?” she said. “It’s like Thoreau said, if you walk alone, you leave now. If you walk with somebody, you wait till they’re ready.”
She’s loved having her grand-niece on the trip now, she said.
“It’s delightful to have a young person (in her 30s) who understands and enjoys Google and Apple maps,” Sundby said. “I promised her when I made my 10 miles today. We’d go on a gator tour.”
Sundby said the lengthy sidewalks struck her along the Old Spanish Trail (Hwy. 182) in Centerville.
“They’ve got almost a 2 1/2 mile sidewalk in Centerville,” she said. “What does that tell you? It’s in pretty good condition, too, because people walk. Those little towns were built to walk in. I’ve actually seen more people walking out in Broussard, Centerville, and places like that than anywhere. That just struck me in Centerville.”
She said that Sundby’s approach to walking the Old Spanish Trail differs from how she made the Mission Trail. In Mexico, the lower part of that journey covers about 800 miles. The Jesuit trail is the lower part of the Mission Trail in California, and the Franciscan Trail is in northern California, from north of San Francisco to Sonoma.
“I’m doing this (Old Spanish Trail walk) differently,” she said. “When I started walking the California Mission Trail, I did that as a through-walk. In other words, I walked through Mexico, really with the help of vaqueros (cowboys), as much on a donkey as walking because the Sierras (are so rugged). And I did California and the old Franciscan trail, another 800 miles, as a through-walk. I did each of those in two months.
“This walk, the Old Spanish Trail, which starts in San Diego and goes all the way to St. Augustine, Florida, I’m doing this in segments,” she said. “And a good segment’s about 300 miles, which is perfect because Louisiana, which used to be in East Orange, Louisiana, which no longer exists, is a little over 300 miles from the Sabine River to Slidell. So I’m doing Louisiana as a through-walk.
“It’s just delightful. It’s 2,817 miles between San Diego and St. Augustine, Florida. There are about four major crossroads across the United States, and the Old Spanish Trail road is the shortest distance between San Diego and St. Augustine, the shortest way to get across the United States.”
It’s also the most interesting way to cross the United States, she feels.
“It’s just the history out here,” she said. “Many of these communities have retained a lot of their culture.”
For instance, she met John and Lillie Mae Norbert, who, at ages 90 and 76, served plate lunches of Creole food at Norbert’s Restaurant in Broussard.
“Their daughter Millicent is the tourist director there in Broussard, and she traced their ancestry back to Nigeria,” Sundby said. “(Their ancestors) had been brought over in the 1700s, where they’d stayed all that time. So you meet people like that, and it’s a very intimate walk through a place like Louisiana.”
Sundby said she’ll probably walk Mississippi and Alabama’s Old Spanish Trail as one segment rather than splitting them into individual segments of her walk of the trail because that’s under 200 miles.

Abbeville High students saw firsthand how an animal goes from the farm to their dinner table, thanks to the Ag Department at Abbeville High School.
On Wednesday, the two ag teachers teamed up to teach anyone on campus who wanted to learn how to butcher a pig.
With the help of the Ag teachers, the students scraped the hair off the pig, cut the skin, and made cracklins, then cut the head off, along with the feet. The skin and organs were also removed. Finally, at a table behind the Ag Department, the students processed the meat by cutting the pig into pieces and keeping the meat.
A handful of students were in the mix of skinning and cutting up the pig.
“I love this. This is every day for me,” junior Ty Detraz said, who helped remove the skin and sawed off the feet. “I have cleaned deer before, and this is the same thing.”
Watching in the background was senior Alyssa Rideaux, who stepped out of her English Class to watch. She was not in the mix like Detraz and his friends, but her eyes lit up when the organs were removed, including the tongue. Detraz cut the tongue out of the pig. Rideaux held and studied the organ. She also put her fingers in the cutoff pig head’s mouth and did not flinch.
“I think this is interesting to see the anatomy of the entire pig,” said Rideaux. “We can see what part we eat and where it comes from. The whole process is interesting. This is really cool.”
When she graduates in May, Ribeaux is heading south and will attend Nicholas State in Thibodaux, La. Her major will be microbiology.
This is the second time in four years the Ag Department has butchered a pig.
“We are showing the students how the digestive system works and how meat is processed,” said Theall. “Most people are so far away from the farm that they do not know where their food comes from. This allows students to see how the meat is processed and how it will go from the farm to the dinner table.”
When the organs were removed, Theall showed the students the digestive system, including the colon, stomach, liver and gall bladder.
Some students, who have an interest in biology, also saw the pig’s heart and lungs.
Teacher Brandon Billeaud teaches a certified medical assistant class at AHS. The class is for all Vermilion Parish high school students. He took the heart and lungs to his class. He planned to teach his medical assistant class how to do something using a real heart.
“This is good because we get to see a heart up close and personal,” said Billeaud.
Devin Romero, who teaches Pro-Start at AHS, and her students cooked cracklins from the skin cut off of the pig.

October 1, 1947 ~ March 3, 2023

ABBEVILLE — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church honoring the life of Lee Allen "Skippy" Pierce, 75, of Lake Charles, who passed away on March 3, 2023, due to complications of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He will be laid to rest at St. Paul Cemetery with Fr. Daniel Picard officiating the services.
Lee Allen “Skippy” Pierce was born on October 1, 1947 to Charles Lee and Marjorie Richey Pierce in Abbeville.
Skippy graduated from Vermillion Catholic High School in Abbeville and attended UL Lafayette and McNeese. He was in the oil and gas industry his entire career. He was a Vietnam veteran and an avid hunter his entire life.
He was preceded in death by his father, Charles Lee Pierce; infant brother, Charles Pierce; and sister, Joy Awwad.
Skippy is survived by his wife, Kempa Hunt Pierce of Lake Charles; mother, Marjorie Pierce; his four children, David Pierce and wife, Amanda of Lafayette, Jennifer Hess and husband, Chris of Lafayette, Claire Coleman and fiancé, Wakefield Ball III, of Lake Charles, and Caroline Miller and husband, Blake of Lake Charles; and eight grandchildren, Rhiannon Pierce, Ava Pierce, William Pierce, Henry Hess, Charlie Hess, Wakefield Ball IV, Mia Hess and Jack Miller.
The family will welcome family and friends at Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, 209 S. Saint Charles St., Abbeville on March 7, 2023, beginning at 10:00 AM until 1:45 PM when the procession will depart for the church. A rosary will be prayed at 1:00 PM.
The family would like to give special thanks to the doctors and staff of Houston Methodist Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and our friends at Halo House.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation in Skippy’s name to Halo House Foundation, 2940 Corder Street, Houston, TX 77054, www.halohousefoundation.org. Their support and inspiration during this very difficult time meant the world to us.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.