News Analysis
WASHINGTON—When Google removed Univision from its YouTube TV streaming service, President Donald Trump came to the network’s defense, urging the tech giant to reverse its decision and warning that failing to do so could hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.
On Sept. 30, YouTube TV dropped Univision, one of the top Spanish-language broadcasters in the United States, from its platform after the two sides failed to reach a deal.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 4: “I hope Univision, a great and very popular Hispanic Network, can get BACK onto the very amazing Google/YouTube. It has been taken out of their package, which is VERY BAD for Republicans in the upcoming Midterms.”
Trump’s involvement in the controversy underscored the growing influence of Spanish-speaking voters in U.S. elections.
“They were so good to me with their highest rated ever political Special, and I set a Republican Record in Hispanic voting,” Trump wrote. “Google, for the purpose of FAIRNESS, please let Univision back!”
In November 2023, Univision conducted an hour-long interview with then-Republican frontrunner Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The network came under fire from Democratic lawmakers and liberal commentators for what they claimed was the nonconfrontational tone of the interview.
TelevisaUnivision CEO Daniel Alegre welcomed Trump’s support, thanking him “for recognizing the impact of Univision and the importance of Hispanics.”
Since then, Univision has been running ads across media and social platforms, featuring a screenshot of Trump’s message.
Currently, subscribers to YouTube TV, one of the largest pay-TV distributors in the United States, are unable to watch Univision on the platform. To return to the service, Univision would have to agree to a condition requiring viewers to pay an additional $14.99 per month on top of the basic $82.99 plan. Alegre has criticized this as a “Hispanic tax.”
Evelyn Jones, a California Republican delegate, expressed surprise at Trump’s post, noting Univision’s historical criticism of conservatives and support for leftist causes. However, she told The Epoch Times that in recent years, the network has begun to better understand Trump and the reasons many Hispanic voters support him.
She emphasized that Hispanic voters care about issues such as jobs, the economy, safe neighborhoods, and schools, as well as combating cartels and addressing human and drug trafficking, areas in which they view Trump favorably.
However, Jones voiced concern about the 2026 midterms—not because of falling Hispanic support but because of California’s Proposition 50, a November ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional district maps. She noted that the measure will benefit Democrats who already dominate the state.
“I am very worried, and that is why we’re helping a lot in California,” Jones said.
Historic Support
Latino voters are believed to have played a crucial role in the outcome of the 2024 election, helping Trump secure his victory.
Pew Research Center’s election data analysis shows that Trump gained substantial support among Hispanic voters, securing 48 percent compared with Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’s 51 percent. This marked a notable increase from Trump’s 36 percent in 2020 and 28 percent in 2016.
Trump’s 48 percent share of the Hispanic vote in 2024 was the highest ever for a Republican candidate, surpassing President George W. Bush’s 44 percent in 2004.
Mindy Pechenuk, a Republican mayoral candidate from Oakland, California, witnessed firsthand the strong enthusiasm for Trump during the 2024 campaign. Hispanics make up nearly 30 percent of her city’s population, she told The Epoch Times.
Pechenuk believes that the overwhelming shift of Hispanic voters toward Trump in 2024 stemmed from his support for family values, focus on creating skilled jobs, and tough stance against cartels and drugs.
However, she is concerned that several left-leaning nonprofit organizations in her city have been running campaigns recently aimed at diminishing support for Trump within the Hispanic community.
Latinos account for nearly 15 percent of all eligible voters in the country and have been one of the fastest-growing racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. electorate since the 2020 presidential election, according to Pew Research Center.
The 2024 election results highlighted the growing influence of Hispanic voters as a key demographic in shaping national and state-level outcomes. Recognizing this, lawmakers from both parties have rallied to support Univision in its conflict with Google.
“Google is trying to CENSOR Spanish-language news outlets,” Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) wrote on X on Oct. 4. “Our constituents in South Florida deserve to access their news channels of preference without having to pay an additional fee!”
Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) said in a video message on X: “Google, bring Univision back to YouTube TV. Don’t keep Hispanics in the dark.”
Sen. Rubén Gallego (D-Ariz.) also criticized Google for trying to impose an additional fee on Univision viewers.
“It’s an unfair tax targeted at the Latino community, and I won’t let them get away with this,” he wrote on X.
‘Unfortunate Mistake’
In a statement on Oct. 1, Univision accused Google of being “tone-deaf” for disregarding appeals from government officials and Hispanic organizations. The company stated that Google is making an “unfortunate mistake” by depriving millions of Hispanic viewers of its content.
However, Google remains firm in its position.
“Our carriage renewal decisions are based on viewer consumption and pricing, and any suggestion to the contrary is false,” a Google spokesperson told The Epoch Times in response to the claims.
Univision viewers make up just a “tiny fraction” of YouTube TV’s total viewership, according to the spokesperson.
“We remain open to negotiating an agreement that reflects their performance on YouTube TV,” the spokesperson said. “Until then, their content remains unavailable on YouTube TV.”
In a 2024 study, Robert Preuhs, political science professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, found that Spanish-language media outlets have played a critical role in mobilizing Latino voters.
“Local Spanish-language media really does matter,” Preuhs wrote. “In my research, it showed that Spanish-language media with its focus on Latino issues with Latino journalists, and having it be very Latino-centric, increases voter turnout and increases this belief that the government is working for you and that you can have an impact on politics.”
New Polling
Recent polling suggests that Hispanic support for the president has fallen since the 2024 election. According to a New York Times/Siena poll released on Sept. 29, about 26 percent of Hispanic voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 69 percent disapprove. Most of those polled cited concerns about the economy and inflation.
In the same survey, 28 percent of Hispanics said they would vote for a Republican candidate if the 2026 congressional elections were held today.
Ernesto Castañeda, sociology professor and director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, described Trump’s public support for Univision as “very interesting and telling.”
He told The Epoch Times in an email that Republicans risk losing some Latino voters in the upcoming midterms because they believe that “the deportation and immigration policies have gone too far,” noting that the economic uncertainty and recent government shutdown could further hurt the GOP among Hispanic voters.
Still, some Republicans reject the idea that Latino enthusiasm for Trump is fading.
Dennis Feitosa, a California-based entrepreneur running for Congress in the state’s 30th Congressional District, said many Hispanic voters continue to strongly support Trump despite what some media outlets and pollsters suggest.
“It’s actually quite the opposite,” Feitosa told The Epoch Times. “Especially among folks who came here legally or folks [whose families] have been here [for generations], the support is still very much there.”
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