Latest Presidential Polls 2016 – The Latino Vote: Hillary Clinton's Hispanic Lead Over Donald Trump Swelling, Larger Than Obama's 2012 Margin Over Romney
Hillary Clinton is toppling Donald Trump by a nearly 4 to 1 margin among Hispanic voters, giving her a larger overall lead among that sector than even the staggering 44 points President Obama topped Mitt Romney by in 2012.
A new Wall Street/NBC News/Telemundo poll finds Clinton topping Trump by 48 points among Latinos at 65 percent to 17 percent. Pollsters noted the survey included a larger sample of Hispanic voters than other polls previously conducted by the organizations as a means of gaining a better understanding of the group's thoughts.
When third-party candidates Gary Johnson (9 percent) and Jill Stein (2 percent) are added to the mix, Clinton still holds a 48-point lead over Trump at 65 to 17 percent.
Promised Change
After Obama's trouncing of Romney Hispanics, Republican leaders publicly voiced concern about the way their party is perceived by many minorities and vowed to do more Hispanic outreach.
Despite that pledge, Trump launched his campaign by deriding Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals and since then has vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants if he is elected.
He has also vowed to build a massive wall along the Mexican border to further keep immigrants out of the U.S., which he has insisted he will force the Mexican government to pay for.
In all, nearly eight in 10 Hispanics polled expressed negative feelings regarding Trump, including nearly seven in 10 who had "very negative'' feelings.
By comparison, back in 2012, only 35 percent of Hispanics expressed such "very negative" sentiments about Romney.
Immigration Among top Issues
With the issue of immigration reform long being one of the most contentious issues of the election season, pollsters found three in five Latinos indicate they have a high interest in going to the polls in November.
At one point, Trump appeared to be softening his hardline stance on immigration, meeting with Hispanic leaders, forming his own advisory council and even traveling to Mexico to meet with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto.
But in a subsequent and highly anticipated speech on the subject of immigration, Trump doubled down on his vow of mass deportations, adding "Day 1, my first hour in office, those people are gone."
In addition, 68 percent of those surveyed in the Wall Street/NBC poll agreed they are convinced Clinton would be better on the issue of immigration.
The survey was conducted Sept. 15-20 and included 300 Hispanic registered voters. The margin of error for that group was plus or minus 5.66 percentage points.
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