Polls show that Hispanic Americans who have long been a reliable Democrat voting bloc (some might say, a taken-for-granted Democrat voting bloc) are rejecting the Party and turning more toward Republicans. So Fox News asked several Latino voters why they and many of their family members and friends are switching parties.

Startled Awake

Their answers were enlightening, but not surprising. In fact, many of their reasons are natural outgrowths of what I’ve been saying for years: most Hispanic-Americans are basically conservative. They’re hard-working, patriotic, religious, pro-family, pro-life, and anti-communist (many fled here to escape communism or socialism.) They are grateful to America, see it as a land of opportunity, want to achieve the American dream, and are not sympathetic to illegal immigration, which they see as people breaking the rules that they had to follow.

In short, virtually everything about the current Democratic Party is 100% opposed to their values. Unfortunately, old political loyalties are hard to kill, but the Dems are managing it. By becoming the party of woke, socialist elites, they’ve moved so far left so fast that they’ve startled a lot of reflex Democrat voters awake. Now, they’re rushing for the exits like theater patrons who were dozing through a dull movie and were suddenly startled awake when they smelled smoke.

Dems’ Kneejerk Response: Racist!

And the Dems’ kneejerk response to the Hispanic exodus (accuse the Republicans of racism) is a dog that won’t hunt anymore. First because they’ve exhausted it by calling everyone and everything racist … and second, they have made it clear that they themselves are the biggest racists in society today. As often noted, if any minority dares to buck the Dem hivemind, they viciously assault them with repulsive racist epithets, from calling Justice Clarence Thomas “Uncle Tom” and worse, to comparing Condoleezza Rice to Aunt Jemima, and now, to belittling newly-elected Republican Rep. Mayra Flores as “Miss Frijoles.”

Astoundingly, the nasty racist smears came from a blogger who is financially supported by Flores’ November opponent, Rep. Vincente Gonzalez. When Flores called him out, he tried to dodge responsibility with a half-apology in which he shifted blame and lied by implying his ads appeared on the blog unintentionally (the blog doesn’t accept ads, he directly supports it.) Then he tried to shift the subject to Trump by saying, “We condemn the offensive remarks on the platform, just as we have condemned Donald Trump’s racist rants calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. If only Rep. Flores had the courage to do the same.”

The courage to do what, lie like you? Trump was referring specifically to MS13 gang members, who are rapists and murderers and who prey on fellow Mexicans. That was one of the most popular debunked lies of the anti-Trump media, and Gonzalez is throwing it out there one more time to try to weasel out of responsibility for paying a blogger to smear his opponent with racist attacks. It’s utterly despicable, but it’s also so transparent that it’s not working anymore.

Hispanics Have Figured It Out

Hispanics have figured out who’s really on their side and wants to protect freedom, opportunity, and jobs, and who is killing the economy, pushing socialism, and falsely accusing others of racism while practicing it themselves. That’s why the Democrats’ 47-point edge among Hispanics in 2020 is now an even split. The way they’re going, they’ll be lucky if it’s not a 47-point deficit by November. Good thing they love deficits.

Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and longtime conservative commentator on issues in culture and current events. A New York Times best-selling author, he hosts the weekly talk show Huckabee on TBN.

Originally published at MikeHuckabee.com. Reprinted with permission.