With Election Day Tuesday, Latino voters in Pennsylvania are leaning heavily toward voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a new Noticias Univision/YouGov poll.
The survey found that 64% of Latino respondents in the Keystone State said they would vote for Harris if the presidential election were held today, compared to 30% who said the same for former President Donald Trump.
The strong tilt toward Harris, the Democrat candidate, came on the heels of concern among Latino voters about respect for their communities and possibly in response to remarks made at Trump's recent rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
According to the poll, 69% of respondents found comments such as referring to Puerto Rico as "a floating island of garbage" to be "more racist than humorous." Just 17% of respondents took the remarks as jokes instead of serious commentary, suggesting that the GOP nominee's attempts at outreach to Latino voters could be undermined by the language used by speakers at his event.
Among Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania, 71% said that even if the comments were intended as a joke, they suggest that there is an element of racism within the Trump campaign.
The New York rally remarks seem to have chipped away at the trust Latino voters have in Trump's commitment to their communities. The survey found that 53% of respondents said Trump is "very disrespectful" toward Latinos, with another 9% calling him "somewhat disrespectful."
Only 19% said Trump is "very respectful" to the Latino demographic. These voter perceptions may be contributing to the surge in Latino support for Harris' candidacy.
Additionally, more than half of the Latino voters polled said that the Madison Square Garden rally remarks affected the likelihood of their voting for Trump and made them more likely to support Harris.
While respect for the Latino community is a priority for respondents, the survey also found that Pennsylvania Latino voters are equally interested in the two major party candidates' economic agendas.
Given a choice, however, the candidate who is perceived to show more respect for the Latino community wins the majority of support, according to the poll. The finding suggests that, when it comes to political choices, cultural respect holds equal sway with economic concerns for many Latino voters.
The poll was conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 3 and surveyed 400 registered Latino voters in Pennsylvania. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5%.