Christian Latinos will turn out in record numbers for the 2024 election and will base their vote on their Christian values, Latino pastors touted in a new report.
"Evangelical Latinos this year are going to vote like no other year," Rev. Samuel Rodríguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference told NBC News.
The outlet spoke with Latino pastors in Pennsylvania and California about the top issues concerning Latino evangelicals in the November election.
National security, economic concerns, parental rights and freedom of religion are the biggest reasons mobilizing these voters this election, the report said. Polls show most voters believe these issues are better handled by Republicans over Democrats.
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Some of these pastors' congregants said they would be supporting former President Trump in November because their faith and values were more in line with the Republican Party.
Trump holds a six-point lead over President Biden among Latinos, according to a February poll from the New York Times and Siena College.
Between candidates Biden and Trump, 46% of Latinos who responded to the poll said they would vote for Trump, while 40% said they would support Biden if the election were held that day. That's a big difference from Biden's 2020 general election support from the group. Biden won 59% of the Latino vote to Trump's 38% that year, according to Pew Research, which marked an improved showing for the Republican from 2016.
The evangelical leaders told NBC the GOP aligned more with their views on social issues, but the party's rhetoric surrounding immigration also gave them pause.
Rodríguez, lead pastor for California megachurch New Season, said he was troubled by what he saw as sometimes "racist" rhetoric on immigration from the GOP. However, he believed Democrats had alienated Christian Latinos on issues most important to their faith.
Many Christian Latinos can no longer support the Democratic Party, he claimed, particularly because of the party's staunch support for abortion.
"Let them continue with that strategy to see if it works for them," he said.
Dionny Báez, founding pastor of H2O, a bilingual church in Philadelphia, also described being discouraged by "anti-immigrant" rhetoric from the GOP but said he supported efforts to restrict LGBTQ content in public schools.
Báez said other Christian Latinos in his congregation struggled with who to vote for in the November election. He advises them to vote based on whom best reflects their Christian values.
"What do I say to my congregation? I really tell our people that more than immigration reform or help for people who are entering illegally — we must focus on the values that reflect who we are as a Christian community," he said.
The February NYT/Siena College poll follows a larger trend of voters turning to Trump over Biden, among voters at large. Hispanics in some states have said they're voting for the former president in November because of his handling of the economy.
Fox News' Kyle Morris and Michael Lee contributed to this report.
