Latino voters in the United States overwhelmingly want a candidate in the 2020 presidential election who values diversity and can unite the country, according to a recent poll by the non-profit group UnidosUS.
The findings of the June poll were revealed Monday morning during the UnidosUS national conference in San Diego, two days after a gunman opened fire inside a Wal-Mart in the border town of El Paso, Texas, and killed 22 people. Prior to the massacre, the gunman had posted an anti-immigrant screed on a far-right web forum.
In a morning news conference, UnidosUS President Janet Murguia said Latino voters are calling for “common-sense” gun and immigration reform.
She also said voters are generally concerned about what she described as a climate of hate building around the 2020 election, saying there’s an increasing “demonization” of Latino people in the country.
“The climate that has been created that has clearly been tied to these actions and motivations has to stop, and the radicalizer in chief — President Trump — has to stop with this rhetoric,” Murguia said.
The national poll UnidosUS conducted in June included more than 1,800 Latino voters. Among those polled, 87% agree that "racism against immigrants and Latinos is a problem today." Additionally, 75% of respondents said they want Congress to enact stronger gun laws.
In addition to gun violence, top concerns of the poll respondents were the economy, healthcare and immigration.
Though a majority of respondents appeared to swing toward more liberal voting priorities, the poll revealed that many weren't necessarily wedded to a political party. While 63% of respondents said they had not voted for a Republican candidate in the past, 38% of people in that group said they'd consider voting for a GOP candidate if he or she "spoke out against Trump's policies."
Among the 37% of respondents who said they voted Republican in the past, 16% said they felt confident in the current GOP. The other 21% said they find it hard to support the current GOP, but might consider supporting the party in the future.
