Most Hispanics in the U.S. say they personally know an illegal immigrant, according to a new poll of Latino voters released Tuesday that suggests one reason why immigration plays such an outsized role in their voting preferences.
The survey, conducted for a number of liberal-leaning Hispanic pressure groups, found Hispanics lean heavily Democratic, and found that potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates’ stances on immigration played only a small role in earning Latinos’ support. None of the GOP candidates tested in the poll — from Sen. Marco Rubio, who helped write a legalization bill, to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has urged his party to pass such a bill, to Sen. Ted Cruz, who helped lead opposition to the Senate bill — topped more than about a third of the Hispanic vote.
Pollsters tested two different approaches to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. In one, they said she supports legalizing illegal immigrants, and she earned about three-quarters of the Latino vote. In the other question, however, she was portrayed as taking a hard line on this summer’s surge of illegal immigrant children, and the Latino vote was split evenly on her.
The poll found immigration to be the most important issue for about a quarter of voters, while another 41 percent said it was “one of the most important.”
And most of them said they wanted to see a halt to deportations and to see illegal immigrants legalized, but a sizable minority — about a quarter — said they wanted to see stiffer enforcement.
Asked specifically if they know someone who is an “undocumented immigrant,” 55 percent said they did.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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