Donald Trump has the worst favorability rating in the GOP presidential field among Hispanic voters, according to a Washington Post-Univision News poll released Thursday.
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Clinton lost the Hispanic vote in last Saturday’s Nevada caucuses by eight points, according to network entrance polling. That survey could leave out a substantial share of Latino voters, however, because of the way it sampled Hispanic or Latino registered voters.
Early in the presidential campaign, Trump drew considerable criticism for his inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants, including referring to most Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers. The survey found that 80 percent of Hispanic registered voters nationwide viewed Trump unfavorably, and 72 percent had a very unfavorable view – marking the lowest of any candidate.
However, political experts say finishing first in a Republican caucus in the “silver state” is still far from being favored by Hispanics nationally. Especially when he managed to earn more than Rubio and Cruz, who are both Cuban-American.
In 2011, Nevada had one of the highest percentages of foreign-born Hispanics, according to Pew Research.
Therein lies part of the dilemma that the Republican party faces as it seeks to regain control of the White House.
Clinton leads Sanders 57 percent to 28 percent among Democratic primary voters, which is smaller than her 73 percent support in a Univision poll last summer when Sanders held just 3 percent support. Should Trump become the Republican nominee, despite the efforts of Democrats and Republicans alike, based on information from Republican strategists, he would need to gain 40 percent of the Hispanic vote – a number last reached by President George W. Bush in 2004. Today, no major GOP candidate left in the race, with the exception of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) of roughly 2 to 1 among Hispanics heading toward the Super Tuesday round of primaries and caucuses.
Donald Trump may have done well with Latino voters in Nevada, but he be so lucky should he find himself in the general election come November. Rubio trails Sanders by 24 points, Cruz by 33 and Kasich by 37. Clinton still has the upper hand with 67 percent of Hispanic voters seeing her favorably. But few trust Democrats intensely, with only 23 percent of Hispanic voters trusting Democratic leaders “very much”, while 42 percent trust them only “somewhat”. About a third say they don’t know which party’s nominee they plan to support.
So would they support another Republican candidate?
The poll surveyed 1,200 voters in the USA between February 11 and 18 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.
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If Senator Bernie Sanders were to snag the Democratic nomination, he would beat Trump by a margin of 56 percent.
