Spanish-speaking network Univision announced it will air its interview with President Joe Biden on Tuesday, as the Democrat continues his push to regain support from the Latino electorate, a demographic that has been souring on him lately.
The network indicated the interview will air at 10 p.m. Eastern Time/9 p.m. CT/ 7 p.m. PAC and will be available on Univision, ViX, UniMás and Univision's YouTube channel.
Across Biden will be Enrique Acevedo, whose interview with Donald Trump last year catalyzed a public spat between Democrats and the network over what they perceived to be a soft line of questioning.
📌 EXCLUSIVA: El presidente Joe Biden en entrevista con @Enrique_Acevedo. #EntrevistaBiden
— Univision Noticias (@UniNoticias) April 9, 2024
📺 HOY a las 10P/9C/7PAC por @Univision, @ViX, @UniMas y YouTube de Univision Noticias. pic.twitter.com/abSfayPoNI
The fallout was public, with Acevedo and Univision receiving backlash for not pushing back on some of Trump's claims and comments, including one where he compared migrants reaching the country with Hannibal Lecter, the fictional serial killer.
Criticism also came from several Latino leaders, who expressed concern over media suggestions that the interview was be part of a larger strategic effort by the network to cultivate a closer relationship with Trump.
Univision pushed back against the claims, with CEO Wade Davis saying "we made a decision to adopt a strategy that is different than what some other major networks are using, which has been labeled as partisan."
But according to a Vanity Fair report, Democrats and Univision addressed their rift in January during a meeting between White House senior adviser Anita Dunn and TelevisaUnivision Mexico co-CEO Bernardo Gómez Martínez.
The appeasement comes amid a push by the Biden campaign to regain standing among the Latino electorate. The President made a series of public appearances in late March, telling a group of supporters "I need you back," and saying that they are the reason why he beat Donald Trump in 2020.
The president focused on Trump's derogatory rhetoric toward Latinos, recalling several events over the past years and specifically mentioning his claims that migrants are "poisoning the blood of our country." "I never heard a president say the things that he has said," Biden during a passage of the event.
He also gave interviews to Latino-focused media and increased field work in key states. The Associated Press reported that, along allied Democratic groups, it has opened offices in Washoe County and certain areas of Las Vegas to better target Latinos, Blacks and Asian American voters.
Moreover, there are already bilingual campaign organizers and and office in Maryvale, a large Latino community in Phoenix. "The campaign has hired more than 40 staffers in Nevada and Arizona," the outlet added.
Tuesday's interview with Univision is part of a package that includes an interview with Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, as well as two questions that Acevedo already asked the president during one of the campaign stops in late March in Phoenix, Arizona.
Biden has his job cut out for him when it comes to regaining Latino support. A new Axios-Ipsos poll from Tuesday showed that his decline with the demographic has continued in 2024.
Concretely, the survey showed that even though the incumbent is still ahead with the demographic, the favorability advantage is significantly lower than before, going from 30 percentage points in December 2021 to 9 in March of this year.
Current figures show that Biden's favorability among Latinos stands at 41%, compared to Trump's 32%. The gap is even smaller among Latinos who said they plan to vote in November, sanding at only 3 points.
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