Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:07 pm
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reached new depths of delusion Wednesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Show. During an interview, Trump insisted that he would beat Hillary Cinton in the 2016 presidential race, and he also boasted that he would win a majority of the Hispanic vote. Trump, with his characteristic ego-stroking bluntness, proclaimed:
The Hispanics love me.
The remark was reminiscent of his 2011 comments on talk radio, when Trump asserted:
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I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.
According to Donald Trump, the GOP should be a lock to win over majority voters as long as Trump is the party’s nominee. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump’s popularity with non-white voters is a figment of his wild imagination.
On the same morning that Trump was bragging that he would win the Hispanic vote, a newly released Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 81 percent of Hispanic voters had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, compared to just 13 percent who viewed him favorably. Donald Trump apparently confused love with hate, as his net favorable rating with Latino voters is negative 68 points. Even by the most charitable assessment, those results can only be summarized as Hispanic voters can’t stand Trump.
Trump has accused undocumented immigrants from Mexico of being rapists, and he has made anti-immigration rhetoric the cornerstone of his campaign. While that gambit has actually paid off in making him far more popular with Republican voters, it has damaged his standing with Hispanic voters. In May, 60 percent of Hispanic voters viewed Trump negatively. That number has risen to 81 percent, as Trump has continued to demonize Latino immigrants on the campaign trail.
Trump’s miserable 13 percent favorable rating with Hispanic voters suggests that if he becomes the Republican nominee, the GOP will suffer worse numbers with Hispanic voters than they did in 2012. Mitt Romney lost the Latino vote in 2012 by a crushing 71-27 margin to Barack Obama. By comparison, George W. Bush only lost the Hispanic vote to John Kerry by a closer 58-40 spread. Whatever other faults George W. Bush had, he did not practice demagoguery on the immigration issue, and as a consequence, he was able to maintain a moderate base of support with Hispanic voters.
Donald Trump however has turned to Nativist demagoguery. Republican voters are rewarding him for his xenophobic rhetoric, but a Trump candidacy would deliver a crippling blow to the GOP’s hopes of resurrecting their standing with Latino voters. Trump can profess that Hispanic voters love him all he wants, but the truth is over 80 percent of Hispanic voters can’t stand Trump. With such dismal levels of support from Latino voters, Trump has very little chance of ever becoming president.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.
