COVID Remains Latinos’ Top Concern

Latinos are taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, according to a new poll conducted by Univision News and Latino civil rights and advocacy organization UnidosUS, with 45 percent of Latino voters identifying it as their top priority. Fully 71 percent are more concerned about the impact of the virus on their family’s health than their finances, the poll found.
 
The poll, which was released today, found that more than half of Latinos know someone who has died from COVID-19 and more than three-quarters know someone who has been sick from it. The United States’ 61 million Latinos are the second largest ethnic group in the country and 70 percent of the Latinos in the workforce are considered essential, making them especially vulnerable to the virus.

Getting Latinos vaccinated is also a challenge because of the lack of access to the vaccines themselves, including barriers to where to sign up or trouble getting an appointment, and rampant misinformation about the vaccines. Only 27 percent of Latinos have received the COVID-19 vaccine, which is lower than the national average. While 39 percent plan to get vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible, 28 percent say they have no idea how to register or tried and failed.
 
Financially, Latinos also pay a heavy price, with 28 percent of respondents saying they or someone in their household lost their job and 44 percent had hours cut. Some 20 percent of respondents have lost their health insurance and other employer-provided benefits and nearly half have had to use retirement savings or other emergency funds to survive. Nearly 4 in 10 (38 percent) are struggling to pay for housing while 28 percent are having trouble paying for food and medicine.
 
After COVID, the top concerns of Latino respondents were jobs and the economy at 41 percent; health care costs at 25 percent, and immigration at 21 percent.

Following are some the key findings:

•     Emerging Latino communities in the United States are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than the average Hispanic, but they trust President Biden more to solve the problems arising from the pandemic.
•     36% of Hispanics residing in emerging communities reported loss of their own job or that of someone in their home, 50% had their work hours cut, 42% had problems paying their rent and 25% lost their health insurance.
•     Only 13% of Hispanics in general and 9% in emerging communities say they will not get the COVID-19 vaccine, a percentage similar or even lower than that of the general population consulted in other polls.
•     Although the majority of Hispanics say they are ready to receive the vaccine and know how to get it, there is still a high percentage (28%) who say they have no idea how to sign up to receive it, or that they have already tried it without any results.
•     The coronavirus is the biggest concern for Hispanics, followed by jobs and the economy; But while the third priority for all Latinos is the cost of healthcare, for those who live in emerging communities it is immigration reform.
•     Joe Biden is very popular with Hispanics, with whom he achieves an approval of 78% in general and 86% in emerging communities. And they trust him a lot when evaluating the messages received about the coronavirus.
•     More than three-quarters of Hispanics surveyed by Univision and UnidosUS in emerging communities say they depend on Spanish-language media as their source of news and information.