As the presidential election season continues to heat up, pundits are examining voting trends among a range of racial and ethnic demographic groups in an effort to identify potentially pivotal trends.

In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, outlines the ways he believes Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris is driving Latino voters away from her campaign and into the Trump fold.

Trump gains historic ground

As Rodriguez notes, former President Donald Trump has made substantial inroads with the Latino electorate as the election draws near.

With Trump in some surveys pulling roughly 40% of the Latino vote to Harris' 55%, these results are representative of a 10% decline in Democratic Party support from 2020.

Critically, Latino voters may well prove pivotal in determining which candidate takes the swing states of Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona this fall.

The problem for the left, according to Rodriguez, is that Democrats have arguably adopted a complacency when it comes to Latino voters that they may soon live to regret.

Crucial misunderstandings at play

In Rodriguez's estimation, there are five principal ways in which Democrats are alienating Latino voters, the first of which has to do with abortion, particularly late-term abortion, which he says a majority of Latinos -- especially those of Christian faith -- find unacceptable.

Also troubling to many voters in this demographic group, the op-ed states, are Harris' proposals regarding price freezes on food and other essential goods, a strategy they have already seen bring catastrophic results to the citizens of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

Growing numbers of Latino voters, Rodriguez contends, are also increasingly disenchanted with the left's de-emphasis on the importance of parental rights with regard to matters of gender identity and similar concerns.

Harris' tenure as “border czar” and what many Latino voters believe has been a failed open borders policy has also prompted distrust, according to Rodriguez, with many in this demographic group favoring the stricter immigration measures implemented during the Trump administration.

Perhaps less influential, but still frustrating to voters in his community, says Rodriguez's is Harris' failure to select -- or really even consider -- a Hispanic American running mate for the Democratic Party ticket.

Erroneous assumptions could be Dems' downfall

Political strategist Mike Madrid, who has long devoted much of his energy to analyzing Latino voters, recently told Politico that most assumptions made by candidates about this segment of the electorate and how to win their votes are wrong.

“Minority voters are voting much more along economic class lines than they are as a race and ethnic voter,” Madrid explained. “The party that is able to capture the hearts and minds of a multiethnic working class will be the dominant party of the next generation.”

Perhaps summing up the dilemma facing liberals as November approaches, Madrid mused, “And so the Democratic Party has really needed to get out of this racial identity cul-de-sac that it's driven itself into,” but thus far, there seems to be little indication that those in charge on the left will do any such thing, only bolstering Trump's prospects for a win.