Poll shows many Latino voters still on fence over Biden, Trump

Nearly a third of Latino registered voters in Nevada hadn’t decided whether to support President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump this fall, according to a TelevisaUnivision Consumer Strategy & Insights poll released this week.

The survey was managed from June 12 and concluded on June 24, a few days before Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance and Trump’s attempted assassination.

The poll showed that 33 percent of Latino registered voters surveyed “definitely” supported Biden, with 30 percent definitely supporting Trump, well within the poll’s statistical margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percent for Latinos surveyed.

The poll showed 17 percent of Latinos would “probably” vote for Biden, while 10 percent would probably vote for Trump, with 7 percent saying they’d vote for someone else and 4 percent being unsure or not knowing who’d they’d vote for.

By comparison, committed non-Latino voters favored Trump over Biden, 38 percent to 28 percent, a margin greater than that poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points, according to the survey.

The unsettled group for non-Latino voters was smaller, with 12 percent probably voting for Trump and 11 percent probably voting for Biden, with 8 percent preferring someone else and 3 percent unsure or not knowing.

The Spanish-language media conglomerate conducted the poll in partnership with the Media Predict research firm. It was unveiled in the cusp of Biden’s campaign tour in Las Vegas this week, as calls for him to step down from the ticket have intensified.

Nearly 1,000 likely voters were polled, including 389 respondents who identified as Latinos.

In a question about willingness to vote for the presidential candidates, 42 percent of Latinos surveyed said they were “very unwilling” to vote for Trump, compared to 31 percent who said the same thing about Biden.

Only 29 percent of Nevada Latino registered voters surveyed last month believe the country was “headed in the right direction.”

Other races, issues

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, had 29 percent support among Latinos polled, compared with veteran Sam Brown’s 17 percent. Forty-eight percent of those questioned were undecided on whom they would like to see in the senate.

Among non-Latinos surveyed, Rosen led 36 percent to Brown’s 27 percent.

In a tight race in a battleground state like Nevada, Latino voters — who comprise 20 percent of overall voters — could swing elections.

Nearly 20 percent of Latinos cited “inflation” as their top issue that will determine who they vote for. Immigration, abortion, health care and cost of living rounded off the top five issues.

On the same topic, 77 percent of Latinos said Nevada’s economy was fair or poor. Only 7 percent of those questioned said the economy was “excellent.”

Forty percent of Latinos believed the economy would get worse, with 64 percent of them saying that their economic situation has become worst within the last year.

On immigration, 67 percent of Latinos said there should be a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who’ve lived in the country for some time and who haven’t committed serious crimes.

Researchers highlighted the importance of reaching out to the minority demographic, who they noted is not a monolith.

“Three in four Nevada Hispanics say they appreciate when candidates advertise in Spanish, and our latest research shows that 60 percent of Latinos don’t have all the party information they need to make a voting decision in November,” wrote Michele Day, senior vice president of the Political, Advocacy, and Government Group at TelevisaUnivision, in a statement.

Day said that historically, only 2 percent of campaign spending goes to advertisement in Spanish.

“But Hispanic voters are also not monolithic – if leaders want to reach this diverse voter base they should engage across multiple platforms,” Day wrote. “Political campaigns on both sides of the aisle cannot afford to overlook this key group of voters, particularly in a battleground state like Nevada.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.