How confidence in Trump’s border approach since 2020 has led to a surge in support for a key group of voters
Donald Trump continues to erode the Democratic lead among Hispanic voters, one of the key demographics that could determine the outcome of the November election.
That remains the case despite the fact that Kamala Harris was outperforming President Joe Biden in the polls before he ended his campaign.
Biden won by 21 points among Hispanics in 2020, according to exit polls. Vice President Kamala Harris now leads the group by 13 points — a gain for Trump.
Trump also outperforms Harris among Hispanic voters on immigration, an issue voters rank as one of the most important issues this year.
Trump has a 42-37 lead over Harris on immigration policy, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
“Latino voters are probably the purest swing voter group in America right now and will continue to be for quite some time,” Chuck Rocha, a former adviser to Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, told Reuters.
Former President Donald Trump has won among Hispanic voters compared to how Joe Biden performed in 2020. He leads Kamala Harris on immigration among Hispanics
Trump’s lead on immigration is larger among voters overall: he has a 10 percentage point lead (46 to 36).
That’s because Trump has repeatedly talked about an immigration “invasion” at his rallies and has promised to carry out a nationwide deportation of people who cross the border illegally.
According to an exit poll analysis by Pew Research, Biden won the Hispanic vote by 21 points in 2020. If Harris’s current 13-point lead among registered Hispanic voters holds through Election Day, it would mark an improvement for Trump.
VP Kamala Harris has improved her standing in the Democratic polls since stepping down after President Biden ended his campaign
But Harris has made gains among Hispanics on other issues. She now leads him by 13 points on the economy, with a wider lead of 18 points on health care and 23 points on climate change.
Those four issues represent the top ones for Hispanic voters. Harris’ lead on the economy comes because Trump leads on the economy overall, 45 to 36.
Hispanic voters will play an outsized role in two swing states where Trump holds a lead over Harris. Trump leads Harris 49 to 44 in a new CNN poll in Arizona, a GOP-leaning state that Biden won in 2020. And in Nevada, a virtual tossup, Harris led Trump 48 to 47 percent.