Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has previously claimed to have tremendous support among Hispanics, but a new poll of Latino voters indicates otherwise.
An overwhelming majority of Latinos disapprove of Trump’s comments about illegal immigrants and hold unfavorable views of the former reality TV host, according to a survey of 250 Latino voters by NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and Spanish broadcasting network Telemundo.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they have a negative view of the New York-based businessman and 61 percent listed their view of him as “very negative,” according to the poll. Only 13 percent said they view Trump positively.
The real estate magnate has led the GOP field of 16 candidates for several weeks now, but Latino voters say his candidacy is further damaging the Republican Party’s reputation among Latinos. According to the same poll, 69 percent of Latinos said Trump is hurting the party’s image compared to 12 percent who believe Trump has benefitted the GOP.
A majority of the respondents, 55 percent, also described the comments Trump made about illegal immigrants during his presidential announcement speech as “insulting and racist” and unbecoming of a presidential candidate.
During a recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, the bombastic GOP candidate described himself as a “master job-creator” for Hispanics and said his relationship with the minority voting bloc is “great.”
“I have many legal immigrants working with me and many of them come from Mexico. They love me, I love them,” he said at the time, as reported by the Washington Examiner. “And I’ll tell you something, if I get the nomination, I’ll win the Latino vote.”
Despite struggling to appeal to Latino voters, Trump dominates his GOP rivals in support among Republican voters. At 20.8 percent support in the latest RealClearPolitics average, Trump leads the pack just days ahead of the first Republican primary debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
