Donald Trump’s rhetoric about illegal immigration has many Latino voters enthusiastic about voting against him in November, according to a poll of registered Hispanic voters.
A survey released Thursday by America’s Voice and Latino Decisions found that 48% of Hispanic voters said they were more enthusiastic about voting this fall than they were in 2012, while just 31% said they were more inspired in 2012.
Of the voters who are more enthusiastic, 41% said they wanted to vote against Trump and fight back against what they see as anti-immigrant forces. By comparison, just 4% said they were excited to vote for the first Hispanic president, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is battling Trump for the Republican nomination, and 3% said they were motivated to vote against Cruz.
Trump did poorly in other questions on the survey, too, with 79% saying they had a “very unfavorable” view of the real estate mogul, and 78% saying that Trump’s views on immigration made them less likely to vote for a GOP candidate in the general election.
Since announcing last June, Trump has campaigned on a promise to deport illegal immigrants by force and build a wall with Mexico. After losing the 2012 election, the Republican National Committee issued an “autopsy” report for the party, which identified reaching out to Hispanic voters as crucial to GOP success moving forward.
The survey was conducted by interviewing 2,200 registered Hispanic voters between April 3 and April 13. Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish via telephone interviews and online surveys, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percent.