Vice President Kamala Harris, who has gained the support of enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination, speaks to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Grand Boule at the Indiana Convention Center on July 24, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
When it comes to the Latino vote, Florida has become an outlier compared to other big states in terms of its political preferences, and that fact is apparent upon reviewing a public opinion survey released Tuesday by a leading Latino civil rights organization.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump in Florida, 47%-42%, in a survey of 400 Florida Latino voters in the UnidosUS 2024 pre-election poll of the Hispanic electorate. The organization polled in eight (mostly battleground) states, and the close margin between the two candidates stands out compared to results in seven other states included in the survey.
Nationally, the poll shows Harris up over Trump with Latinos, 59%-31%.
In Georgia, Harris is up by 31 points, 60%-29%. In Pennsylvania, Harris is up by 35 points, 62%-27%. In North Carolina, she leads Trump by 29 points, 56%-34%.
Asked who they would support for U.S. House of Representatives, 40% of Latinos in Florida said they would support a Democrat and 37% would support a Republican. That’s a closer margin than in any other state surveyed. Nationally, 53% of voters polled said they would vote for a Democrat while just 27% would support a Republican.
In Texas, considered a solidly red state like Florida, 50% of Latinos would vote for a Democrat and just 30% for a Republican.
One issue where Florida Latino voters are in synch with other states is abortion rights.
Asked: “No matter what my personal beliefs about abortion are, I think it is wrong to make an abortion illegal and take that choice away from everyone else,” 68% of Florida Latino voters either strongly or somewhat agreed, very much in line with 71% nationally among Latino voters.
The survey of 400 Florida voters was conducted Aug. 5-23 and has a margin for error of +/-4.9%. Seventy five percent of respondents took the survey online and 25% in live telephone interviews, in Spanish or English.