Poll Reveals Top Unexpected Priority For Hispanic Voters

Hispanic registered voters consider halting gun violence a top political priority, ranking the issue alongside concerns about the economy and affordability, according to a poll shared with HuffPost on Thursday.

The nationwide survey highlighted the unique importance of firearm safety to a demographic that both parties struggle to reach, pointing to an opportunity for Democrats to broaden their appeal, given the party’s strong support for tougher gun laws.

The national survey was conducted from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10 by Global Strategy Group on behalf of the Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund, a reform group, and BOLD America PAC, which supports progressive Hispanic candidates.

When asked to rank the urgency of political issues on a scale of one to five, some 79% of respondents viewed stopping school shootings as the top political issue — the highest share that any single issue received. Increasing the affordability of everyday items like gas and groceries trailed close behind at 78%.

Latino voters expressed similar concern about mass shootings in general, with 71% ranking it as a top political issue.

The survey partially overlapped with the widely publicized mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, that left two students and two teachers dead, and nine others injured.

Fewer respondents viewed immigration reform (56%) or securing the border (53%) as top political priorities.

The poll mostly contains good news for Democrats.

A sweeping majority of the poll’s 800 respondents supported universal background checks (91%), laws mandating safe gun storage (91%) and “red flag” laws that temporarily prohibit people from possessing firearms if they present a danger to themselves or others (80%).

All of those positions have become standard for Democratic candidates, who generally favor gun control — including the party’s presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.

“This key voting bloc isn’t picky when it comes to protecting their communities,” reads a memo describing the poll results. “They simply want to see common-sense action taken by their elected officials to put an end to the violence.”

Republican nominee Donald Trump, by contrast, has pledged to roll back gun restrictions imposed by the Joe Biden administration that were aimed at imposing background checks on sales at gun shows and restricting forced-reset triggers that make guns shoot fast.

Thursday’s poll found less support among Hispanics for banning assault weapons, however, at 63%.

That figure still stands well above the support for assault weapons bans typically found in surveys of the American public as a whole.

Public support for the proposal has ebbed and flowed over the last decade, often hovering below a simple majority. A Monmouth University poll of the general public last year found that 46% of respondents supported banning assault weapons.

Nearly two-thirds of Latino voters surveyed in the poll released Thursday felt that gun laws should be tightened. Only 11% wanted to loosen restrictions on guns, and about one-quarter favored the status quo.

“Hispanic and Latino voters are clear: they are looking for candidates who will support commonsense solutions to the gun violence epidemic that our communities face everyday,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a co-chair of BOLD America, wrote in a statement. “This poll shows that addressing gun violence is a top issue for Hispanic and Latino voters in this critical election cycle. We all want our communities to be safe from gun violence, and voters want their candidates to prioritize and clearly detail their gun violence prevention plans.”

But the survey also indicated that Democrats may have to publicize their messages on gun safety more broadly to consolidate support for those positions among Latino voters.

Like other recent surveys, the poll found that Latino voters do not identify strongly with either party.

Some 49% of respondents leaned Democrat, while 35% leaned Republican. Nearly one-third identified as politically independent.

While a plurality of respondents said they would vote for Democratic candidates based on party affiliation, respondents were more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate who favored gun reform and against a Republican candidate who opposed it.