Miami, Jul 16 (EFE).- More than six out of every 10 U.S. Hispanic voters prefer Democrat Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 over Republican Jeb Bush, according to a survey released Thursday by the Univision television network.
When asked for whom they would vote if the election were between Clinton and Bush, 64 percent said they favored the former secretary of state and 27 percent said they would cast their ballots for the ex-governor of Florida, who speaks fluent Spanish.
If the election were between Clinton and Republican real estate magnate Donald Trump, 70 percent would support the former and 16 percent the latter.
“El Voto Latino” (The Latino Vote) is the first bipartisan national poll to be taken of Hispanic voters for the 2016 election cycle.
Survey firms Bendixen & Amandi and The Tarrance Group interviewed 1,400 registered Hispanic in English and Spanish between June 12-25 and July 7-13, and the poll has an error margin of 2.62 percent.
Sixty-eight percent of Latino voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton, who is running for president for the second time, while just 36 percent feel the same way about Bush.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another Republican hopeful for the GOP presidential nomination, has favorable ratings from 35 percent of the Hispanics polled.
Latino voters feel that the Democratic Party is “more in tune” with their ideas on the economy and immigration than the Republican Party.
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Democrats, 18 percent as Republicans and 25 percent as independents.
Surprisingly, Latinos – 68 percent – feel that speaking Spanish fluently is not an important requirement for someone aspiring to the presidency, the survey found.
With regard to Trump, the majority of Hispanic voters – 79 percent – feel that his recent comments about Mexican immigrants were “offensive,” although only 14 percent feel that they represent the general point of view of the Republican Party.
Among the Hispanics declaring themselves to be Republicans, just 7 percent would vote in the Republican primaries for Trump.
On the other hand, 92 percent of the Hispanic voters surveyed said that it is “very likely” that they will vote in the 2016 elections.
The issues those voters consider to be the most important are: jobs, the economy, education, healthcare and immigration, in that order.
Fifty-nine percent of Hispanics say that they are satisfied with the job performance of U.S. President Barack Obama over the past six years. EFE
emi/bp
(c) 2015 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.
