ABC Political Director Warns ‘Kamala Harris Has Issues’ With Hispanic Voters

Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling compared to past Democratic candidates among Hispanic voters, which could cost her key states in November, ABC News Political Director Rick Klein said Sunday.

Harris led former President Donald Trump by 17% among likely Hispanic voters in an ABC News poll released September 15. Klein said that the vice president’s margin meant Trump could win Arizona and Nevada.

“Right now, our latest polling shows a solid lead among Latino voters for Kamala Harris, 17 points in our latest ABC-Ipsos poll from just a couple of days ago, but that isn’t nearly the edge she has among black voters or Asian voters and it isn’t nearly the edge that previous Democratic candidates for president have had — 30-plus point advantage for Joe Biden in the exit polls among Latino voters from four years ago,” Klein told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.

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“Hillary Clinton won Latino voters by 40 points and, of course, she still lost the presidency, so there’s some real ground to make up across demographics, but particularly with Latino voters. Kamala Harris has issues that she’s got to attend to,” Klein added.

Trump picked up substantial support among Hispanic voters in polling before President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection July 21, due in part to issues like immigration and the economy. Harris has regained some support from Hispanic voters since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

U.S. Border Patrol encountered nearly 7.4 million illegal immigrants since the start of fiscal year 2021, according to figures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Trump trails Harris by 2.2% in the RealClearPolling average of polls from September 3 to 18, with the vice president’s lead increasing to an average of 2.6% when Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, independent candidate Cornel West and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver are included in surveys.