Friday, March 29, 2024

Telemundo poll finds Biden and Sanders tied for support of Nevada’s Latino voters

Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are in a statistical tie for about a third each of Nevada Latinos’ caucus vote, but about 35 percent are aligned with other candidates or are undecided, according to a Telemundo poll released Tuesday.

The Feb. 10-12 poll of 625 registered Latino voters in Nevada found 34 percent support Biden and 31 percent support Sanders. Support for all the other candidates was in the single digits.

Mason Dixon Polling & Strategy conducted the poll for Telemundo. On the question of which candidate they would vote for in the caucuses, Telemundo polled 362 Latinos likely to vote, producing a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

Early voting began Saturday in Nevada and ends Tuesday. The state’s Democratic caucuses begin at noon Saturday. Telemundo’s poll suggests “this is going to be a close race,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of Plus Three, whose technology company analyzes political and other data.

But “on the ground, it doesn’t feel that way,” he said, adding Sanders appears to be leading among Latino voters. “I think the Biden folks are holding on tight and hoping and praying he comes in second or third. If he comes in fourth, it’s going to hurt the campaign,” Proaño said.

Sanders dominated the Latino vote in the Iowa caucuses. He also has drawn the highest total political contributions, $8.3 million, from Latinos in 2019, according to Proaño’s analysis of contribution data. He has had strong support from younger Latinos.

Nevada is the first large test of Latino voters’ preferences in the Democratic presidential nomination race. The Nevada caucuses could show whether Sanders has been able to build substantial support among Latinos in other age groups.

NBC NEWS