Latino Voters Aren’t Fooled by Trump’s Phony Pivot, New Poll Shows

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:09 pm

A new Latino Decisions poll released on Thursday shows that Donald Trump’s fake pivot on immigration hasn’t fooled Latino voters.

The national poll, which was conducted after the Republican nominee’s strange trip to Mexico and his anti-immigrant rant in Arizona, shows Clinton leading Trump with Latino voters by 55 points – 72 percent to 17 percent.

Trump is underperforming Mitt Romney’s 2012 level of Latino support, which was already dismal.

According to David Damore of Latino Decisions:

In recent weeks media reporting has been rife with speculation that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was “pivoting” away from the harsh immigration policies and anti-immigrant language that have been the hallmark of his presidential campaign. Yet, as last week’s speech in Arizona—delivered hours after a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto—revealed, there is no kinder and gentler Donald Trump lurking under that comb over. Instead, Trump doubled down on the rhetoric and policies that have him poised to receive the least amount of support from Latino voters of any Republican presidential candidate in modern American political history.

The survey showed that huge majorities of Latino voters believe Trump’s rhetoric has encouraged hostility toward minorities and made racial divisions in the country deeper. Three-quarters of respondents said that Trump’s proposal to build a wall will not make America stronger, and nearly 80 percent believe the Republican nominee doesn’t truly care about helping African-American and Latino citizens.

Another huge majority – 73 percent – believe the Republican nominee’s policies are about making “America hate again,” despite his promise to make America great again.

It’s clear that Trump’s temporary attempt to strike a softer tone on immigration, before returning to his original anti-immigrant rhetoric, turned Latino voters off even more than they previously were. And despite what Trump may think, it’ll take more than white voters to win a national election in an increasingly diverse country.

Last year, an analysis by Latino Decisions found that the GOP nominee must carry 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2016 to win the presidency.

If this poll – which was accurate in its prediction of the Latino vote in 2012 – turns out to be accurate, it will be nearly impossible for Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton in November.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.

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