forces that operatives say are shaping the races hispanics who make up roughly 20 of nevadas electorate may be slipping away from democrats some in the party feel the covid19 pandemic and inflation are taking on heightened importance in a state heavily reliant on tourism and service workers the abortion debate is raging in a heavily proabortion rights state and republican candidates are getting tagged by their opponents on past stances on the 2020 election signs of movement by hispanic voters away from democrats in other states and a dour national mood around the economy are handing nevada republicans chances to go on offense shifts among hispanics previously helped gop candidates oust democrats from office in southern florida and the rio grande valley in texas sparking democratic handwringing about where those voters will land this november according to exit polling biden won 61 of the hispanic vote in nevada two years ago only to win the state by just about 2 underscoring how a wide margin among latinos is key to taking the state democrats usually rely on getting in the high 50s low 60s if theyre lucky on the hispanic vote thats not going to happen this cycle in a state where you have razorthin margins that type of movement is huge said hughes the gop operative yet democrats warn against reading into movement among hispanic voters in other parts of the country noting that regional differences exist between voters in nevada and those elsewhere and hispanics cant be reduced to a single bloc indeed a new york timessienna college poll this month showed that 46 of hispanic voters in the south plan to vote democrat this cycle while 62 of hispanics in other parts of the country say the same i think that latino voters theres a lot of extrapolation from the small data set from just one cycle versus five or six cycles of an organization and a party showing that they can turn out the vote said one democratic strategist with long ties to nevada referencing democrats noted voter turnout operation i do think theres a little bit of an unfair characterization as to this national trend being applied to nevada democrats do acknowledge however that the turbulent state of the economy is top of mind for locals nevada workers and businesses faced severe financial setbacks during the height of the pandemic given the role tourism plays in the state with the unemployment rate topping 28 in may 2020 and while covid shutdowns are in the past inflation has hampered the recovery a headwind that democrats recognize i think its one of the reasons the races are so tight said ted pappageorge the secretarygeneral of the culinary workers union local 226 a labor group that serves as a key part of democrats voter turnout machine you better come out swinging and be ready to fight and the democrats in nevada are doing that but thats what its going to take to win