Hispanics like Paul Ryan more than Donald Trump, Fox News Latino poll finds

Latinos dislike Donald Trump a lot more than they do Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin). Well, at least those whose know who the House Speaker is do.

A new poll released Friday by Fox News Latino found that the top ranking House Republican’s favorable-unfavorable rating among Latinos was much better than his party’s presumptive nominee.

Although 25 percent of those polled had never heard of Ryan, 30 percent were found to have a favorable view of him and 34 percent viewed him unfavorably. While the numbers aren’t exactly flattering, they also aren’t anywhere near as bad as those of Trump, who is seen favorably by 23 percent of Latino voters compared to a whopping 74 percent who have an unfavorable view of him.

“Paul Ryan has worked hard to engage Latinos,” Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, told FNL. “On the other hand, Trump has been derogatory toward the Latino community with his comments on Mexicans and immigration.”

Aguilar added, “These numbers reflect that Paul Ryan understands the Latino community and is reaching out to them.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS 

The poll, which sampled registered Latino voters between May 14 and 17, 2016, comes at a time when the GOP is divided deeply over Trump’s candidacy, with Ryan stating he is not yet ready to endorse the billionaire businessman for president.

After a high-profile meeting between the two last Thursday, Trump and Ryan said they were committed to unifying the party despite their differences over immigration, taxes, benefit programs and trade. The discussion seemed to thaw relations enough to make a reconciliation seem possible, and the men spoke of keeping the lines of communication open and of having found common ground.

Besides revealing the mixed emotions Latinos have for both Ryan and Trump, the poll numbers also indicate a dearth of support for Trump within the Latino community and the ground he will have to make up in the general election campaign if he hopes to better Mitt Romney’s 27 percent in 2012.

“It’s going to be tough for Trump,” Joe Trippi, a political analyst and Fox News Channel contributor, told FNL. “I don’t see how he can really win those voters with his talk about immigration and the border wall.”

Fifty-seven percent of those polled believe that if Trump is elected president the will deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., and 51 percent believe that he will follow through on his threat to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Three-quarters of Latino respondents also believe that Trump will say anything to get elected, and 76 percent don’t believe he cares about people.

On the Democratic side, things are looking better for front-runner Hillary Clinton. The former Secretary of State holds a 56 percent to 41 percent favorable-unfavorable rating (which still pales in comparison to Obama’s 72 percent approval rating among Hispanics), and, in a head-to-head match-up against Trump, Clinton would win the Latino vote against the billionaire businessman by a 62-23 margin.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's Democratic rival from Vermont, fares even better against Trump among Latinos, pulling in 66 percent of Latino voters against Trump’s 22 percent.

Aguilar warned that while Clinton enjoys a sizeable lead over Trump now, her numbers of support among Hispanics have dropped from previous polls. He also said that Trump can turn his numbers around with Latinos, but he has little time to waste.

“He needs to take the steps to reach out to Latinos,” Aguilar added. “He need to do it right away, as the next few weeks will be crucial.”

The Fox News Poll is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R).

The poll was conducted by telephone with live interviewers among a random sample of 886 Latino registered voters as an oversample to a national survey of 1,021 registered voters.

This Latino sample is made up of 76 interviews conducted as part of the base national sample and 810 additional interviews from a Latino voter list developed from previously conducted national random digit dial surveys.

Results based on the full Latino oversample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.