Latino voters are hastily leaving the Democrats in a major blow to Kamala Harris.
An NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC Latino poll found that 54% of Latino voters planned to vote for the Vice President, giving her a 14 percentage point advantage over Donald Trump (40%). The remaining 6% were either undecided or planned to vote for a third-party candidate.
While Harris’ lead in this key demographic may seem promising on the surface, analysis of the data suggests her popularity is shrinking compared to previous Democratic presidential candidates. Predecessor Joe Biden amassed 63% of the Latino vote in 2020 – a factor which helped him to the presidency despite a stronger performance among Hispanics for Trump (who got 27% of their vote).
Harris’ unpopularity among Latinos has seen her party’s support fall even farther from when the last female Democrat took on Trump. Hillary Clinton amassed 69% of the Latino vote in 2016, building on the momentum from Barack Obama (65%) in 2012.
Social media commentors offered their own perspectives on why Harris was struggling among such an important demographic.
Others, however, expressed doubt as to whether the seismic shift was such an advantage for the former president.
The NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC Latino poll surveyed 1,000 registered Latino voters Sept. 16-23. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
