Anyone but Trump: 2 out of 3 Latinos will vote for the Democratic candidate, even if they don’t know yet who that would be

Just days before the first debate among Democratic presidential hopefuls, set for June 26-27 in Miami, a new poll has shown that Hispanics are enthusiastic about the 2020 election and consider it much more important than the balloting in 2016.

A new and exclusive poll by Univision Noticias determined that only 18.6% of Hispanic voters plan to vote for President Donald Trump in 2020 while 62.8% say they will vote for the Democratic candidate who wins the primary. Yet a significant 18.7% of the Latinos interviewed report that they remain undecided, according to the bipartisan poll designed by Univision Noticias’ polling team and conducted by Latino Decisions and North Star Opinion Research.

The high number of undecided voters may be due to the facts that it's early in the presidential campaign for 2020 and that the field of Democratic contenders is crowded, with more than 20 hopefuls. Just a few days before the first Presidential Democratic debate, to be held in Miami on June 26 and 27, Latinos show a higher preference for Joe Biden (21%) and Bernie Sanders (20%). Most other Democratic hopefuls register below 2% on the poll – a sign that Latino voters don’t even recognize their names. 12.5% are not sure yet whom they will vote for in the Democratic primary.

The only Hispanic hopeful in the Democratic field so far, Julian Castro of Texas, has the highest name recognition and 9 percent of the voters said they intend to support him. Castro was the first precandidate to come up with concrete proposals on immigration. Beto O'Rourke, also from Texas, was third with 8 % among Hispanics who plan to vote, followed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. Pete Buttigieg barely registered 2% among Latino voters.

The poll also shows that President Donald Trump has a long way to go if he hopes to obtain substantial support among Hispanic voters. It also suggests that, even though this group of voters has a positive perception of Democratic candidates, a high percentage of them do not know even some the most popular ones in other national polls.

The presidential debates next week and the event for candidates organized by NALEO in Miami this week are significant opportunities for the candidates to make themselves known to Hispanics and win the support of voters who say they are eager to vote and make a difference in 2020.

Hispanics turned out in large numbers for the mid-term elections last year, and the new poll shows they remain enthusiastic about participating in the elections next year. About 68 percent of the people surveyed said the 2020 election will be more important than 2016 and 74 percent said they plan to vote in the 2020 balloting.