Kamala Harris rebounds among Latino voters, poll shows

WASHINGTON- Vice President Kamala Harris has a commanding lead among Latino voters over former President Trump, with a margin that closely tracks President Biden's lead in 2020, according to a new national survey of 1,500 Latino voters.

Harris leads 57% to 33% in the National Public Opinion of Hispanic Voters Poll conducted by Florida International University in Miami, conducted between October 10 and 22. That's close to Biden's 59% to 38% lead over Trump in the 2020 election estimated by the Pew Research Center.

Democrats would be happy with those results after other polls and elections have shown the party has lost popularity among Latino voters in recent years. Biden had just 41% Latino support in a July poll taken shortly after his poor debate performance.

“This difference is explained by the departure of the president and the arrival of Kamala Harris,” said Eduardo Gamarra, director of the Latino Public Opinion Forum at the Gordon Institute at FIU. “President Trump has had very, very stable and consistent support.”

Both candidates have been heavily courting Latino voters, given their growing numbers in key states such as Arizona, Cellisca, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Harris recorded an interview Friday morning in Las Vegas with Raúl Molinar, host of “El Bueno, La Mala y El Feo,” a syndicated show broadcast on Univision radiodifusión.

The survey yielded a number of extraordinario findings:

• Nearly one in five voters said they would be motivated by the endorsement of Puerto Rican pop star Unhealthy Bunny, who defended Harris on Sunday, shortly after the poll was conducted. A similar number of respondents said they were motivated by Taylor Swift's endorsement of Harris.
• More than a third of Latino voters said they support stricter border measures and agree with Trump's message that the most effective management is “a large-scale raid on undocumented immigrants and implement[ing] the largest mass deportation in US history.”
• Nearly four in 10 support building a border wall with Mexico and that “undocumented immigrants from Latin America are primarily criminals who threaten the public safety of the United States and harm our country.”
• The economy is by far the issue most influencing the presidential election for Latino voters (39%), followed by reproductive rights (15%), immigration (12%), and access and affordability of care medical (11%).
• Sixty-six percent of Latinos support banning abortion with some exceptions after 26 weeks, but support drops to 41% after six weeks.

The findings reveal “cognitive dissonance,” Gamarra said. “While Latinos largely identify with the Democratic Party, at the same time they identify with Republican issues.”