Biden leads among Hispanic voters in key states: polls

Joe Biden is the top choice for the Democratic presidential nomination for Hispanic voters in key states, according to four polls released by Telemundo on Monday.

In surveys of Hispanic likely Democratic voters in California, Florida, Texas and the New York City metropolitan area, the former vice president leads the field — polling between 20 and 26 percent.

Second place is less clear cut, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leading with roughly 10 percent in California, Florida and New York, while former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) is in second with 14 percent in his home state.

{mosads}The plurality of Hispanic voters in all four areas was undecided on their preferred nominee. The poll was open, meaning respondents were not given a list of the two dozen candidates competing for the nomination.

Forty-nine percent of Hispanics in California, 47 percent of Hispanics in the New York City area, 40 percent of Hispanics in Texas and 37 percent of Hispanics in Florida said they remain undecided.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy polled 400 registered Hispanic voters in each area from June 6-13. The margin of error for the entire sample in each area is plus or minus 5 percentage points, although that figure would be higher for the subgroup of likely Democrats.

Hispanics are expected to make up roughly 13 percent of eligible voters in the 2020 election, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, making them the largest ethnic or racial minority group in the electorate.

The release of the surveys come just ahead of the first slate of Democratic primary debates, which will take place in Florida later this week.

Hispanics in each of the four areas said they preferred to replace President Trump rather than reelect him.

That margin was closest in Florida, where 34 percent of respondents said they would pick the incumbent again while 56 percent picked to have him replaced.

Sixty-six percent of Californians, 69 percent of Texans and 73 percent of New York metro-area Hispanics said they wanted Trump replaced by another candidate.

Many GOP strategists predicted that Trump’s rhetoric about immigration on the campaign trail would hurt him among Latino voters in 2016; however, he ended up winning 28 percent of the Hispanic vote that year based on exit polls, which compared favorably to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s 27 percent.