As Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton focus their campaigning efforts in New York ahead of the April 19 primary, a new poll suggests the two may come up pretty even when it comes to Latino voters. According to Public Religion Research Institute’s poll in partnership with The Atlantic, registered Latino voters across the United States are pretty equally feeling Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Out of 427 Latinos sampled, Sanders takes a slight lead at 48 percent, and Clinton stands at 47 percent, according to NBC News.
In February, NBC News, the Wall Street Journal, and Telemundo’s poll showed Hillary trouncing Bernie with Latino voters – 56 percent favored Clinton, compared to 39 percent who said they’d vote for Sanders. Sanders campaign spokeswoman Erika Andiola credits increased exposure to this shift. “At the beginning it wasn’t necessarily that people or voters didn’t support him, they didn’t necessarily know him as well as they did Secretary Clinton,” Andiola said. “It was about getting the word out.”
But Clinton’s spokewoman Xochitl Hinojosa said that Clinton’s big wins in Texas and Florida don’t back the poll’s findings. “More than half of Democratic primary voters have cast their ballots and Hillary Clinton has received the overwhelming support of the Latino community,” she said.
Among all Latinos – that is not just those registered to vote – 61 percent see Hillary favorably, compared to 54 percent who see Sanders favorably.