Hopes and fears in America: Why did New York see a spike in young men voting for Trump?

Hopes and fears in America: New York Latinos divided over forthcoming presidency

ITV News' Dan Rivers looks at how Trump won over so many young Latino voters, and what a Trump presidency means for the economy


Boroughs like the Bronx and Queens saw a spike in support for Donald Trump, particularly among young men.

In the Bronx, Kamala Harris did win over the majority of voters, getting 73% of the vote - but compared to Joe Biden’s 84% four years ago, that is a significant drop.

In Queens, where Trump’s father started his property business, Harris’ performance was even poorer, getting only 62% of the vote compared to Biden’s 2020 tally of 72%.

An insight into what happened can be gained at the Knock-out Barbers in the Bronx.

Javier Rodriquez Junior took over the business from his father but has been struggling in recent years with high bills.

One power company erroneously charged him thousands of dollars too much. Despite months of pleading with them that there must have been a mistake, it was only when Trump visited his salon during the campaign, that Javier was finally able to get the issue resolved.

The glare of national publicity brought by the former president meant Javier’s dispute was sorted in a few days.

Javier says Trump saved him a small fortune, and that sealed his support for the incoming president, along with many of his friends.

He is convinced the former president and businessman is who America needs to subdue inflation and help small entrepreneurs like him.

Becoming a MAGA devotee isn’t without its costs in this traditionally Democratic stronghold though, and Javier has lost customers as a result of his support of Trump.

Trump visited Javier's barbershop along the campaign trail. Credit: Fox News

He told me: “Democrats have taken people like us the minorities by default that we support Democrats, but over time it’s almost like we have been pushed to the side.

"It’s like they already got our votes and they are focused on the red states, the swing states… We’re taken for granted.

"There are a lot of people who are registered Democrats who have switched over, they don’t believe this Democratic party is for our people. They are starting to realise Republicans are doing more to help small businesses flourish."

It is astonishing that in this working-class neighbourhood - a few streets from the block where Jennifer Lopez grew up - a billionaire property tycoon has somehow convinced people like Javier that he’ll fight for them harder than a woman from a modest background who repeatedly claimed she knew about the struggle to make ends meet.

Harris’ pitch to people like Javier fell short though. Javier feels she was just another rehearsed politician from Washington, who was inauthentic and out of touch. He feels Trump, on the other hand, understands what it takes to run a business, even if it is on a far bigger scale than his.

Not far away in the Bronx, I met someone who watched this election closely and feels his future may hinge on its result.

Giddel Contreas has a much bleaker view of the future under a Trump second term than Javier.

Giddel came to America illegally when he was just 18 years old. He crossed a river on the Mexican border to follow his American dream almost 30 years ago.

He left his native Honduras in the wake of a devastating hurricane and was subsequently granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowing him to work in the USA as a cook, without a Green Card or US citizenship.

Since then he has married an American woman and had a daughter, but his future in the country he views as home is in doubt.

Trump has repeatedly talked about ending TPS, which currently covers almost a million people, as part of a huge deportation programme. If carried out it would mean Giddel would be forced to leave America and return to a country he barely knows.

Giddel Contreas fears the consequences of Trump's proposed deportation programme. Credit: ITV News

It would rip apart his family and leave him unemployed. Over a coffee in a local Honduran restaurant, I ask him for his message to Trump.

“I would say just let us work, you know, keep the programmes in place. I understand his point of view," he said.

"Many people that I'm here and the illegal things has to be addressed. But people like me that come here to work and be good citizens, you know, we should be given the opportunity to continue doing what we're doing.”

He said being forced to give up his current life and return to Honduras would be “emotionally devastating”.

When Trump won in 2016 he faced the same concerns, but this time he feels the threats are more pointed.


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“I would be away from pretty much all the people that I have lived around all these years," he said.

"My wife, my daughter and family members that I have, too. And you would be going back to a country that you don't really know anymore.”

Javier and Giddel have much in common, living close to each other in the Bronx, they are both Latino men who want the best for their families and country.

Yet, politically their view of where America is heading and their own future could not be more different.


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