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US midterms: Hispanic voters most enthusiastic, favor Democrats

People protesting against US President Donald Trump wait near the Tree of Life Congregation on October 30, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by AFP)

Enraged by US President Donald Trump’s racist remarks about American Latinos, US Hispanic voters are far more interested in partaking in this year’s midterm congressional elections than they were in 2014, a new poll has found.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll released Sunday found that 36 percent of Hispanic voters were "certain" to vote in Tuesday elections, a significant increase from 27 percent in the 2014 midterms.

To put that in perspective, there has been only a five-percent rise in general voter enthusiasm among all Americans over the same period. This means that Hispanics’ enthusiasm to vote outpaces the general population by more than two times.

Enthusiasm was specifically higher among Hispanic Democrats, 42 percent of whom said they were "certain" to vote compared to 29 percent in 2014.

The survey found that Hispanic voters were nearly twice as inclined to vote for Democratic candidates running for Senate and the House of Representatives than they were for Republicans.

Just over half of Hispanic voters, 53 percent, felt "very motivated" to pick a candidate for Congress who opposes Trump, compared with 43 percent of all voters, 75 percent of Democratic voters and 9 percent of Republican voters.

That’s not much of a surprise considering Trump’s continued attacks against immigrants and minorities.

Outrage over Trump’s vitriolic remarks has played well into the hands of voter registration groups, who have been using the Republican president’s rhetoric to drive up Latino enthusiasm.

In one case, a group that is part of an alliance that has reached out to more than 1 million potential voters in Arizona, took its name from the Spanish word for "fight."

Around 55 percent of Hispanic likely voters participating in the poll identified as Democrats, 31 percent as Republicans and 12 percent as independent.

Most opinion polls and political observers predict that Democrats will be able to win the 23 seats they need to flip the House while Republicans will hold onto their majority in the Senate.


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