Latino voter turnout plays a role in Super Tuesday
Photo Courtesy Ron Jenkins/Getty Images FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 1: Voters line up to cast their ballots on Super Tuesday March 1, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. 13 states and American Samoa are holding presidential primary elections, with over 1400 delegates at stake. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s recent citation of Nevada exit polls as proof that he is doing well among Latino voters is not entirely convincing, according to theories put forth by several news organizations.
About 75,000 Republicans caucused last week in Nevada, but only an estimated 6,000 of them were Latino. This is significantly lower than the 27 percent of the population that is Hispanic.
A national view of the political situation does not make Trump’s prospects look any better.
Results of the last two presidential elections indicate that Republicans need at least 33 percent of the Latino vote to win the presidency. Trump is predicted to garner only 16 percent of that vote, according to a recent poll.
Minorities are becoming increasingly important in political races as the number of eligible Latino and Asian voters grows.
Hillary Clinton’s victory in seven states and a U.S. Territory on Super Tuesday seems to show that her message has resonated more strongly with nonwhite voters than that of Bernie Sanders.
Clinton won more than 90 percent of the black vote in Alabama and Arkansas and more than 80 percent in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, according to exit polling. She also won the Latino vote in Texas by a clear margin: 71 percent to Sanders’ 29 percent.
Note: Exit poll results broken down by race were not available for every state.
The polling results of Super Tuesday hail Senator Ted Cruz as the first Latino to win a Texas presidential primary. Cruz won 43.9 percent of the Republican vote, ahead of Donald Trump’s 27.1 percent and Marco Rubio’s 17.1 percent.
Democrats acknowledge Cruz’s victory but are cautious when considering the broader implications of his win. Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, pointed out that Cruz’s winning percentage indicates that almost 60 percent of Texas Republicans »å´Ç²Ô’t stand behind him.
One of every four Texas registered voters is Latino, according to 2015 data from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO). Future victories in Texas for Cruz may depend on his ability to harness that minority vote.