Donald Trump often claims he is adored by Hispanic voters, but a new survey of eligible voters in the coveted demographic strongly challenges that narrative.
Eighty percent of Hispanics in the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2015 American Values Survey have an unfavorable view of the Republican presidential candidate, including 59 percent who view Trump “very unfavorably.” The billionaire businessman, who’s fourth in the latest Washington Examiner presidential power rankings, is the least popular candidate among Hispanics in the top tier of the GOP field.
While 37 percent of Hispanic Americans have not heard of Ben Carson, who’s third in the Examiner‘s power rankings, those who have were more likely to hold a favorable view of the retired neurosurgeon. Thirty-two percent of Hispanic voters view Carson favorably while 18 percent have negative views of him, making him the only candidate of those surveyed with a net-positive favorability rating among Hispanics.
Meanwhile, the two Cuban-American senators in the GOP field, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, were both less likely to score positive ratings among Hispanics. Rubio, a freshman senator from Florida, earns a net-negative favorability rating of 32-20 percent, with 40 percent of Hispanic voters unaware of who he is. And Cruz, a freshman senator from Texas, earns a slightly worse unfavorable rating of 35 percent with 17 percent of Hispanics viewing him favorably and 38 percent not knowing who he is.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the only other candidate respondents were asked to rate, was the second most unpopular candidate behind Trump with 45 percent of Hispanics viewing him unfavorably. Twenty-eight percent gave the former governor a positive rating and 17 percent indicated they had never heard of him.
The survey of 1,010 U.S. adults was conducted between Nov. 6-10 and contains a margin of error plus or minus 3.7 percent.
