Harris Leads Trump Among Latino Voters, But Figures Remain Low Compared to Past Cycles, Poll Shows

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to lose ground among Latinos as the electorate cites they trust former President Donald Trump on their top priority issues— the economy and the rising cost of living.

The data comes from a recent NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC Latino poll of 1,000 registered Latino voters conducted between Sept. 16 through Sept. 23. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Overall, the recent analysis shows that the Vice President is still leading the former President among Latino voters, but that advantage is among Democrats' lowest in the past four presidential cycles.

Support for Harris is at 54% among registered Latino voters, while Trump stands at 40% of support, and another 6% say they're unsure or wouldn't vote, the poll says. That margin is an improvement from that of President Joe Biden's when he was at the top of the ticket earlier this year.

Nevertheless, it's still lower than the past leads Democratic presidential candidates enjoyed in 2012 (by 39 points), 2016 (50 points) and 2020 (36 points), NBC News reports.

The disconnect between Harris and Latinos may be due to their lack of trust in her to handle the economy and the cost of living, which polls constantly show as the top priority issue for this electorate. Trump has a 9-point advantage over Harris on dealing with inflation and the cost of living, and a 4 point lead on dealing with the economy.

Likewise, another top issue, not only for Latinos but voters in general, is immigration, which respondents seem to be split on.

Those surveyed gave Harris the advantage on treating immigrants humanely and protecting immigrant rights (a 39-point lead), but they also trusted Trump to better secure and control the border (13-point lead). Similarly, the poll also finds a divide between Latino voters who prioritize a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and preventing discrimination, and those who focus more on border enforcement.

Respondents also believed Harris would fare better dealing with abortion, where she stood at 56% compared to Trump's 24%, and dealing with crime and violence, where she saw 43% support, compared to Trump's 38%.

But despite Latino's issue priorities, they overwhelmingly believe Harris possesses the necessary leadership qualities and personal traits to be president over Trump. In fact, she performed better in all of the seven personal qualities categories, including having the right temperament to be president (with a lead of 28 points), having the necessary mental and physical health (25-point leads), being honest and trustworthy (26 points) and representing change (21 points).

When it comes to Congress, another institution being hotly contested in November, Latinos also prefer it to be Democratic-controlled, although those figures are down from past election cycles. In the poll, 54% of Latino voters prefer Democrats to take a hold of both chambers of Congress, versus 42% who want Republicans in charge.

The 12-point lead represents a steady decline from September 2012 (when Democrats' advantage was 45 points), September 2016 (when it was 34 points), October 2020 (26 points) and September 2022 before the midterm election (21 points).