Both candidates have campaigned heavily in the Latino community. Trump’s campaign has attempted to reel in Latino supporters with his Latinos for Trump initiative. Biden made an appearance at a September Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in Florida. Work by the Trump campaign to attract Latino voters may be paying off.
In a poll conducted after the debate, 66 percent of participants told Telemundo they believed Trump won the debate. Only 34 percent of poll participants thought Biden made a better showing in Tuesday’s debate. Telemundo hosts warned the poll was “not scientific” but was based on the responses on the participation of its followers on Twitter.
“Like other news organizations, Noticias Telemundo conducted a Twitter opinion poll last night to capture instant online reaction to the first presidential debate,” a Telemundo spokesperson said in a statement provided to Newsweek. “When the final results were announced on air, Noticias Telemundo prefaced the results by explaining the numbers did not reflect a scientific survey, but instead a real-time online poll among Twitter users.”
Newsweek reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
Telemundo, a North American Spanish-language terrestrial television network is owned by the NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises unit of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.
Latino voters have traditionally voted Democratic. In September, a poll conducted by Telemundo, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal showed Biden as the most popular candidate with 62 percentage points over Trump, who held 26 percent. Trump’s debate performance on Tuesday may sway some voters in his direction.
Trump has touted his popularity with the Latino voting demographic. “We’ve done really well with Hispanics,” Trump said during a July roundtable meeting with leaders from the Latino community. “We like them, they like me, and we’ve helped them a lot with the jobs. Whether it’s jobs, education, or so many other things, it’s been really good.”
Biden drew criticism for his appearance at the Hispanic Heritage Month commemoration ceremony after playing the hit Spanish-language song “Despacito” from his phone.
“I’ll tell you what,” Biden said. “If I had the talent of any one of these people, I’d be elected president by acclamation.”
Many observers considered Biden’s “Despacito” moment to be cringeworthy. Latinos for Trump used the moment in an advertisement that featured Biden on two separate occasions leaning in to kiss younger women. The English translation of some the song’s lyrics were shown at the bottom of the footage: “Want to slowly breathe on your neck/Let me whisper in your ear.”
Trump’s administration has made obtaining U.S. citizenship more difficult for immigrants by implementing new rules. Those seeking to become naturalized must now prove that they are not likely to wind up on social benefit programs. Biden has promised to roll back Trump’s changes.
“If I’m elected president, we’re going to immediately end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities,” Biden said during his nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. “We’re going to restore our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers.”
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that the Telemundo poll was conducted on Twitter.
