President-elect Donald Trump winning the election has affected all Americans, but one Florida Atlantic study is showing a significant change within the Hispanic community in the United States.

According to December’s Business and Economic Polling Initiative (BEPi) poll, there was an increase in Republican Hispanics feeling optimistic when asked about their personal finances and the economy in the future during the month, compared to October when the number of Democrats looking forward to better economic times was higher and Republicans were lower.

“I think everybody, especially Democrats, were very confident that Hillary Clinton was going to win,” said Monica Escaleras, an associate professor in Economics and the director of BEPi. “If you look at the Hispanic Consumer Index from October, you will see that Democrats feel good about the economy and very good about their future.”

BEPi  is based off of the University of Michigan’s National Consumer Sentiment Index, a poll to determine consumer’s confidence in the economy, according to Escaleras.

“We track the Consumer Confidence Index so we can see how consumers feel about the economy and personal finances,” said Escaleras. “The more confident we [consumers] feel the more we are going to go out and shop.”

Unlike the University of Michigan’s general poll of the national population, BEPi focuses on the Hispanic population specifically.

“Our concentration or our emphasis is on how Hispanics are going to be driving the economy,” said Escaleras. “Hispanics are becoming the largest and fastest growing minority/ethnic group in the U.S.They’re  going to be driving the demand for goods and services.”

Trump’s policies will have a specific impact on the Hispanic population in the United States, according to Escaleras.

“It starts with immigration. A lot of Hispanics are immigrants,” said Escaleras. “During the campaign Donald Trump talked a lot about how he is going to build a wall and repeal Obama care, policies that directly affect Hispanics.”

Joe Pye is the news editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @jpeg3189.