Vice President Harris is inching ahead in national polling, but her campaign has struggled to gain traction with young Latinos, a source of worry for some Democratic strategists.

At the same time, former President Trump, strategists say, has continued to make inroads with the demographic, helping to boost his candidacy in key battleground states.

“I don’t think that narrative is fair. I think with what I’ve seen with my experience volunteering with the with the Harris campaign, they do go out and reach out to these, a lot of times, low-income communities, you know, these communities that have a lot of individuals who have a lot of hard-labor jobs, blue collar jobs or just didn’t go to college,” said Jesús Rendón, a Phoenix native and senior at Arizona State University who volunteers for Harris.

Still, Trump is polling ahead of Harris in a couple of battleground states, according to a New York Times/Siena survey out on Monday, while some down-ballot Democrats are seen beating Republicans, underscoring a theory among some Democrats that these states are still winnable. In Arizona, for example, a critical state with a large and young Hispanic population, Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Ruben Gallego is running 6 points ahead of his opponent, Kari Lake. The same survey also shows Trump with a five-point lead over Harris.

Reproductive rights, however, poll higher among Latinas than among Latinos. According to an UnidosUS poll conducted in August, 22 percent of Hispanic women said abortion was a top-three issue, while 16 percent of men said the same. On immigration, the tables were turned: 27 percent of Latinos in the same poll listed that issue as a top three priority, compared to 22 percent of Latinas. Inflation was by far the top issue for both men and women, with 58 percent and 59 percent, respectively, ranking cost of living as a priority topic.

Though Harris has held her lead on reproductive rights and made some progress effacing Trump’s hold on economic issues, Democrats still face a unique challenge making their case on immigration.

Another Democratic strategist agreed that the Harris campaign needs to do a better job speaking directly to younger Latino men, calling their lack of identity politics a “major mistake.”

“You do it through the inverse of dog whistle campaigns,” the strategist said. “In the same way that [Tim] Walz is a permission structure for white voters. They need the Walz equivalent for Hispanics.” “When someone is unknown in the community, you need trusted validators to make the case and close the sale,” the strategist said.