Biden senior adviser: ‘We know that we have work to do’ to gain Latino support

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s senior adviser Symone Sanders said Sunday that the campaign is aware it has “work to do” to gain support from Latino voters. 

On ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos questioned Sanders about “relatively weaker” support numbers for Biden among Latino voters in Nevada and Florida and asked whether the campaign planned to follow Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) suggestions for stronger outreach to Latino, younger and progressive voters.  

{mosads}“Well, George, look, we know that we have work to do,” she responded. “And we have said from the beginning — and Vice President Biden has been very clear about this, as has Sen. [Kamala] Harris [D-Calif.] — that we are really working to earn every single vote in this country, and we want to earn the votes of the Latino, Hispanic community.”

Symone Sanders said the Biden campaign is “doing the work” to earn Latino voters, citing Harris’s events in Florida and virtual events in Arizona last week and the former vice president’s upcoming trip to Florida next week. 

“We’re committed to doing the work,” she said. “We’ve made a historic investment in our Latino and Hispanic paid media program, more than any presidential candidate ever.”

The campaign adviser also said the Latino and Hispanic paid media program launched on June 19 and meets “voters where they are.” 

NEW: “We know that we have work to do,” Symone Sanders tells @GStephanopoulos when asked about polls that show Biden with “relatively weaker” numbers with Latinos.

“We are really working to earn every single vote in this country,” Sanders adds. https://t.co/wrpzG1Q2k9 pic.twitter.com/NdErLtZf8S

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2020

Democrats have expressed concerns about polls that show Biden’s support among Latinos behind Hillary Clinton’s levels in 2016, fearing that the lack of support could cost him Florida and the White House. 

A Quinnipiac University poll determined that Biden was behind President Trump in Hispanic support in Florida — 43 percent to 45 percent. The Latino outreach firm Equis Research found Biden ahead of Trump among Latino voters by smaller margins than Clinton in 2016. 

“There’s really no good answer here if you’re the Biden campaign,” one Florida Democratic operative told The Hill last week. “At this stage in the campaign, he should not be getting these numbers against the most anti-Hispanic president in history.”