In the five years prior to the pandemic, Hispanic median household income grew more than twice as much as whites. It follows that, just as people rarely consider quitting jobs or divorcing spouses that they like, they find political change unappealing when they are satisfied with their life situation. There are certainly many Hispanic Americans who are poor and oppressed, but there’s considerable evidence that many are doing better than ever. In this year’s entering class at the University of California, the largest racial and ethnic group is Hispanics. But it’s easy for political junkies to assume that most people follow political nuances closely, when in fact they don’t.

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