Latino Voters in Key States View Donald Trump Negatively, Say He Is Hurting GOP
Not only has Donald Trump's anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric grossly hurt his image among Latino voters, but it has also negatively affected the way Latinos view the Republican Party as a whole.
New polling data recently released by impreMedia and Latino Decisions shows the GOP is failing to reach Latino voters, as 2016 candidates like Trump and Ben Carson continue to infuse their campaigns with anti-immigrant sentiment.
In fact, the Hispanic perception of the Republican Party is even worse today than it was in 2012, when GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney only gained 23 percent of Latino votes and subsequently lost his run for the White House.
The poll, which surveyed 424 Latino registered voters living in battleground states, reports that statements by GOP front-runners Trump and Carson are negatively impacting the overall GOP brand.
When asked about comments by Trump -- who has called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers -- 80 percent of Latino voters said they gave them a less favorable impression of his party. Likewise, 70 percent said Carson's comments about using the U.S. military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and using drones against smuggling tunnels gave them a less favorable impression of Republicans.
According to the Latino Decisions-impreMedia election eve poll, 56 percent of Latinos believed that Romney "didn't care too much about Hispanics," while 18 percent thought he was openly hostile, and only 14 percent agreed that he "truly cares" about Latinos.
Now, three years later, the numbers have changed dramatically. The number of Latinos who think that the GOP is "hostile" toward them has jumped 27 points since 2012, from 18 to 45 percent as of November 2015.
On the other hand, only 39 percent of 2015 respondents thought the GOP doesn't care too much about Latinos, while 16 percent thought they truly care today, which is 2 percent more than in 2012.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!