Marco Rubio is supposed to be the GOP's Great Hispanic hope, but the polling firm Latino Decisions finds that Hispanics aren't biting:
This past November we asked 4,200 Latinos who voted in the 2014 midterm elections whether they had a favorable or unfavorable view of Rubio. Nationally, only 31 percent had a favorable view (12 percent "very favorable", and 19 percent "somewhat favorable") while 36 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of the Senator (22 percent "very unfavorable", and 14 percent "somewhat unfavorable"), a net of -5....
In competitive states where Latinos comprise a significant share of the active and eligible electorate, Rubio's numbers remain in negative territory. In his home-state of Florida--where Latinos are a critical component to this famously competitive state--Rubio's favorables reach only 39 percent, compared to 42 percent unfavorable; a -3 net result. Similarly, his unfavorable share is just over 40 percent in North Carolina and Nevada....
The polling firm concludes that Rubio and Hispanic voters are on opposite sides not only on immigration reform but on Obamacare, which Latino voters strongly support.
A national Public Policy Polling survey conducted late last month found similar results. Rubio's favorability among Hispanics was just 24% -- not only do Clinton, Biden, and Warren beat this (by a considerable margin), but Cruz, Christie, Huckabee, Bush, Walker, and Paul all do a bit better than Rubio among Hispanics. Clinton beats Rubio 64%-28% among Hispanics, which makes him the worst-performing Republican against Clinton in the PPP poll among Hispanic voters (Bush, Carson, Christie, Cruz, Huckabee, Paul, Perry, and Walker all do slightly better).
I expect you'll hear a lot of nonsense about the outreach impact of Rubio's upcoming candidacy announcement, which will be at Miami's Freedom Tower, where Cuban emigres were received in the 1960s and 1970s. I think that's just going to remind non-Cuban Hispanics that Cubans who made it to American soil have been received with open arms, while non-Cubans, including those fleeing dreadful oppression, are routinely turned away, harassed, or forced to live in the shadows. The announcement will make a lot of white people think Rubio is doing successful ethnic outreach. It's the gullible whites who'll mostly be fooled.
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That PPP poll doesn't have particularly good news for Rand Paul, either, with regard to non-white outreach. Paul has been speaking before black audiences and acknowledging racial inequalities in the criminal justice system -- but black voters don't seem to be warming to him. His favorability among African-Americans is 13%. Clinton's is at 80%. Biden's at 58%. Warren's at 55%. On the Republican side, even Chris Christie (17%) beats Paul. And Clinton beats Paul among black voters 89%-5%.
The Beltway media is impressed with how well these guys are communicated with voters outside the GOP base. Voters outside the GOP base aren't.
Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog
