By Janet Hook, WSJ
GOP presidential candidate’s campaign message isn’t playing well among growing voting bloc
Donald Trump’s campaign message isn’t playing well among Hispanics, a growing voting bloc that Republican leaders have been hoping to woo, a new poll by The Wall Street Journal, NBC News and Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo has found.
The poll of 250 Hispanic adults found that 75% had a negative view of Mr. Trump, the real-estate mogul who announced his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination mid-June. Some 13% said they had a positive view of Mr. Trump.
An outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, Mr. Trump drew wide criticism for suggesting that Mexico is sending migrants to the U.S. who are rapists and criminals.
Offered a series of possible reactions to those comments, 55% of Hispanics surveyed said the remarks were “insulting and racist and have no place in a campaign for president.”
Nearly 3 in 10 said Mr. Trump was raising an “important issue” but should have been “more careful with the language he used.” An additional 14% was more admiring, saying Mr. Trump had “guts to say exactly what was on his mind about an important problem we need to address.”
Hispanics were also asked whether they believed Mr. Trump’s views were widely shared by other Republicans.
Half said they believed the comment was just Mr. Trump’s belief and “not shared by most Republicans.” However, 29% said he was speaking for most Republicans.
Support for cracking down on illegal immigration runs strong among the GOP’s conservative base, but other Republicans are worried that hard-line rhetoric contributes to the party’s difficulty in winning support among Hispanics.
Republican Party leaders have stepped up efforts to increase the party’s outreach to Hispanics since 2012, when the party’s presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, drew 27% of the Hispanic vote. That was the smallest share for any GOP nominee since 1996.
In a companion Journal/NBC poll of a broader group of 1,000 adults, Hispanic and non-Hispanics, the survey found many Republicans believe that Mr. Trump isn’t helping the party. Asked whether Mr. Trump is helping or hurting the Republican party image, 47% said he hurt, 35% said he helped.
Both polls were conducted July 26-30. The poll of 1,000 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. For the survey of 250 Hispanics, the margin of error was plus or minus 6.2 percentage points.
Leave a Reply