(The Center Square) – While a recent national poll suggests that the Democratic Party is losing ground with Hispanics, another shows that Hispanics in Texas say the Republican Party better reflects their values.

A poll commissioned by Texas Latino Conservatives identified three regions in Texas where the Hispanic vote is changing the most: South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, the outer suburbs of Texas’ four largest cities, and specific major metros and counties with the highest Hispanic population growth. It was conducted among 1,200 registered Hispanic voters in Texas in English and Spanish from June 15 to 26.

For the first time in history, a majority of Hispanic Texas voters said the Republican Party better reflects their values and priorities. The Republican Party held a 15-point lead over the Democrat Party for being most associated with “hard work;” an 8-point lead for supporting small business owners; a 7-point lead for fixing the immigration system; a 3-point lead for “protecting my way of life.”

“Hispanics also don’t see themselves as a separate group, but Americans and Texans just like everyone else,” the survey found. They self-identified as American (43%), Texan (23%), Hispanic or Latino (21%), Christian (15%), and by their ancestry (13%).

Border security remains a top issue for Hispanic Texas voters. When asked “Which immediate approach would you prefer to solve the situation along the Southern border,” 57% said “Increasing border security measures to stop illegal migrants from crossing;” 27% said, “Allowing more illegal migrants to seek asylum in the United States.” In South Texas, the margin was 60%-24%.

The majority polled, 61%, said they were bothered by the direction of the Democratic Party; 57% said they disapprove of President Joe Biden’s job performance; 53% blame Biden for inflation; 53% blame him for high gas prices.

Among those surveyed, an equal percentage expressed support for both parties. But among the self-identifying working class, the GOP held a 2-point lead.

Maria Espinoza, cofounder and national director of Houston-based America First Latinos, told The Center Square that she wasn’t surprised by the results.

In early 2015, she helped found America First Latinos in response “to Americans who are of Latin/Hispanic/Mexican descent expressing their demands for politicians to place ‘America first.’ We insist that our ‘representatives' legislate for the betterment of our: families, economy, schools, jobs, and country so that our families may thrive.”

Since then, she says, Latinos have increasingly become more involved in politics and are donating to “America First” candidates.

“Standing by and simply watching our beloved republic transform into a communist/Marxist country is not an option for us,” she said.

George Rodriguez, a former official in the Reagan administration who hosts a radio program in San Antonio and has been discussing the migrant crisis there, told The Center Square, “The new radical liberal Democrats have miscalculated the Hispanic vote in Texas on several points. First, they have ignored how culturally conservative and religious they are,” holding different views on abortion and LGBTQ issues than the Democratic Party.

“Second, they ignore that like all immigrants to America (and the vast majority of Texas Hispanics have immigrant parents and grandparents), they came to grow their personal wealth and own property,” he said. “The liberal Democratic policies of higher taxes and environmental protection hinder their growth of personal wealth. Third, and most important, is that Hispanics are ‘melting’ into the American pot. They are American and resent the open borders, anti-national defense, anti-American energy, and pro-globalism politics of the Democrats. They have become Americans, while the Democrats are globalists.”

Nationally, according to a recent NBC News/Telemundo poll, 54% of Hispanic registered voters favor Democrats keeping control of Congress, down 13% since November 2018. A minority, 42%, approve of Biden’s handling of the southern border; 41% of his job on the economy.

U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, a newly elected Republican in the Rio Grande Valley, told Fox News the Democratic Party has "abandoned the Hispanic community," and Biden refusing to visit the southern border was an example of him "abandoning" South Texas.

Last month, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke criticized Biden when he ran for president saying he “didn't spend a dime or day in the Rio Grande Valley or really anywhere in Texas, for that matter, once we got down in the homestretch of the general election."

Republicans have been pouring money into races in South Texas, a region that’s traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, including in support of Republican congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz.

She told Fox News, "We're not complicated people here in South Texas. We love America. We want security. We love our family and we love God. It's really that easy and that's why our values align with the Republican Party."

The Republican Party shares “the true values of Hispanics, which are law and order, the love of God, their family, and the appreciation of hard work and the American dream,” she said. Democrats “have become woke, pushing down their cultural radicalism, which includes Latinx” and “continuing to push this cultural radicalism on us is an insult to us … and just one of the many reasons why the people who were once with the Democrat Party are now walking away."