In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a striking shift occurred in the Latino electorate: 53.1% of Latino men—totaling over 4 million votes—cast their ballots for Donald Trump, a significant departure from their historical preference for Democratic candidates. This trend, highlighted in a viral X post by Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) on April 20, 2025, saw Trump outperform Kamala Harris among Latino men in key states like Texas and Florida. While economic concerns were a primary driver, as noted in a Brookings report from December 2024, a deeper undercurrent of frustration with gang violence—particularly from groups like MS-13—appears to have fueled what many are calling a “common sense voting” movement among Latino men. These men, often living on the frontlines of communities plagued by gang activity, prioritized safety and security, aligning with Trump’s hardline stance on immigration.
MS-13, a Salvadoran street gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s, has long been a source of fear in Latino neighborhoods across the U.S. According to a Wikipedia entry on the gang, MS-13 evolved from a protective group for Salvadoran immigrants into a violent criminal organization, with high-profile murders like the 2018 killing of four young Latino men on Long Island underscoring its threat. A 2023 City Journal article further illustrates this impact, detailing how MS-13 recruitment begins as early as middle school in some Hispanic communities, contributing to a 50% high school dropout rate and violent incidents like a machete attack in the Washington suburbs. For many Latino men, these are not abstract statistics—they are lived realities that shape their daily lives and perceptions of safety.