washington<u+2014>for years, people in both parties warned republicans that they would never retake the white house if the party didn<u+2019>t offer hispanic voters more welcoming rhetoric and adopt a more liberal immigration policy. donald trump proved them wrong. far from the support collapsing, mr. trump drew 29% of hispanic voters, slightly better than the gop<u+2019>s 27% share in 2012, according to exit polls. he still lost the group by a lopsided 36-point margin, but that was narrower than the 44-point disadvantage that hobbled the party in the last presidential election. the election results offer both good news and cautions for a republican party that has worried about its inability to gain ground among the nation<u+2019>s growing minority groups while its core support<u+2014>white voters<u+2014>is shrinking as a share of the electorate. by drawing nearly three in 10 hispanic voters, mr. trump has shown that the gop has a durable floor of support from the group, even for a candidate who offended many latinos. exit polls found that hispanic voters who backed mr. trump tended to have higher incomes<u+2014>he won 38% of those with family income above $100,000<u+2014>and they tended to view terrorism and foreign policy, rather than the economy, as top issues. mr. trump also won an outright majority of hispanics who call themselves conservative. but at the same time, the election results show only meager gains, if any, for the gop with hispanic voters. for three presidential elections in a row, the republican share of hispanic voters has been at about 30% or slightly below that mark, leaving the party with lopsided losses among a growing segment of the electorate. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s always been among hispanic voters a share who lean toward the republican party. it was true before the trump candidacy, and it<u+2019>s true after,<u+201d> said mark lopez, director of hispanic research at the nonpartisan pew research center. he saw the election as confirming the republican party<u+2019>s existing relationship with hispanic voters, rather than signaling a new opening. the exit poll results are being fiercely contested by immigration rights groups and latino decisions, a polling firm that specializes in measuring the latino vote, which point to other polling and precinct-level vote data to argue hispanic support for mr. trump was actually much lower. about three in 10 hispanic voters in this year<u+2019>s election called themselves conservative, and two in 10 identified as republicans. those shares were unchanged from the 2012 election, exit polls found. moreover, mr. trump<u+2019>s tough stance against illegal immigration appears to be damaging with hispanics. while exit polls found that 29% of these voters support his plan for a wall along the southern border, and 18% say illegal immigrants should be deported, far more hispanics reject those policies. some 68% oppose a border wall, and nearly 8 in 10 say illegal immigrants should be given a chance to apply for legal status. in the campaign, mr. trump offended many with his characterization of immigrants and at one point promised a deportation force to remove illegal residents from the u.s. the election results present complications for republican strategists on several fronts. they believed that hispanic voters should naturally align with the gop, as polling in recent years has shown that many favor restrictions on abortion and hold other socially conservative views. they have also hoped that the party<u+2019>s economic agenda<u+2014>its plans for job creation and for lower taxes<u+2014>would resonate with hispanic voters. <u+201c>hispanics are struggling, sometimes working two jobs, and trump promised jobs, no. 1,<u+201d> said debe campos-fleenor, a mexican-american insurance agent in tucson, ariz., who had joined a pro-trump coalition of minorities. but exit polls this year didn<u+2019>t detect any significant support for mr. trump based on economic policy. while a plurality of hispanic voters said the economy was the top issue facing the nation, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton won that group by 50 percentage points. the results also appear to sap some force, at least for now, from the argument that republicans must support liberalized immigration laws to win a national election. while mr. trump lost hispanic and some other voters with his stance on immigration, he more than made up for it with a better showing among white voters, particularly working-class whites. in florida, for example, mrs. clinton drew tens of thousands more votes in heavily hispanic miami and orlando than did president barack obama in 2012, and the hispanic share of the state<u+2019>s electorate grew, exit polls showed. but those additional democratic votes were more than overtaken by a rush of white voters, many living far from the state<u+2019>s metropolitan centers, turning out for mr. trump. mr. trump<u+2019>s candidacy <u+201c>was exactly about push and pull,<u+2019><u+2019> said micah roberts, a republican pollster. while mr. trump<u+2019>s provocative profile boosted mrs. clinton<u+2019>s share of hispanics in florida, <u+201c>he was able to maximize the white vote and turn out far more voters<u+201d> in florida<u+2019>s panhandle and central counties than the gop did in 2012. some republicans say this development suggests that the gop should maintain a tough stance against illegal immigration, which they say is popular with mr. trump<u+2019>s base. <u+201c>mr. trump won a lot of the places that obama carried in 2012, and it was voters who previously voted democratic who responded to a message of dealing effectively with immigration,<u+2019><u+2019> said ira mehlman, spokesman for the federation for american immigration reform, which opposes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. at the same time, many republicans caution that their party must do more to reach out to hispanics or risk sustaining large losses with a growing voter group. in 2016, latinos represented 11% of all voters, up from 10% in 2012, according to exit polls. mr. trump was a <u+201c>unique phenomenon,<u+201d> said ari fleischer, who helped write a 2012 report urging republicans to better reach out to hispanic voters. he added that <u+201c>the demographic math overall is not changing.<u+201d><u+201c>there are hard-core hispanic republicans who will always be with us,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>we didn<u+2019>t improve on that number.<u+201d> for democrats, the challenge is mostly to figure out how to mobilize their supporters in the hispanic community. overall, democratic turnout was down this year. and while hispanics grew as a share of the voter pool in some states, such as florida and virginia, they made up a smaller share of the electorate in arizona, nevada and colorado in 2016, compared with 2012. democrats say the trends still favor them and that over time, the gop will pay a price with hispanic voters. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t bask in your glory and your current victory,<u+201d> said rep. luis guti<u+00e9>rrez, an illinois democrat. <u+201c>we are a young community.<u+201d> he suggested that any survey of young latinos would find hostility toward mr. trump. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re angry. they<u+2019>re going to remember who victimized their parents.<u+201d> <u+2014>beth reinhard contributed to this article. write to laura meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and aaron zitner at aaron.zitner@dowjones.com
donald trump<u+2019>s win bucks warnings from gop, democrats to improve hispanic outreach - wsj
laura meckler aaron zitner