John Leguizamo on Trump’s Latino support: ‘He doesn’t like us and doesn’t want us here’

Actor John Leguizamo destroyed a small horse piñata while reciting a full catalog of Spanish expletives on “The Daily Show” on Tuesday, in response to a New York Times/Siena poll that reported former President Trump leads President Biden among Latino voters.

Of the survey’s Hispanic respondents, 46% would vote for Trump if the election were held today, and 40% said they would vote for Biden.

“You might be thinking, how is this possible? ‘Build the wall’ Donald Trump? ‘Mass deportations’ Donald Trump? ‘Guy who thinks Daddy Yankee is a baseball player’ Donald Trump? asked Leguizamo, after punching the piñata.

“But the truth is that in 2024, Latino voters have something else on their mind,” he added, cutting to a story about Latino voters prioritizing inflation.

That priority was reflected in the Times/Siena poll: 93 percent of Hispanic respondents negatively assessed current food and consumer goods prices.

And polls, both historically and in the current election cycle, have consistently shown that Latino voters prioritize the economy over other issues and that many are moving slowly on specific issues that favor Trump, such as border management.

For Leguizamo, any new Latino support for Trump is unacceptable, with or without inflation.

“Well, here’s what you can tell. No matter what Trump says about inflation, he doesn’t like us and doesn’t want us here,” he said.

Leguizamo then criticized Trump comments at a fundraiser earlier this month that he wanted to allow people to emigrate from “legal countries, you know, like Denmark, Switzerland?”

“Donald, stop beating around the bush. We want cool people, Swiss people, ski instructors, Wes Anderson fans. Just say ‘white people,’” Leguizamo said.

While the Times/Siena poll anchors Leguizamo’s view of Latinos who support Trump, its numbers are an outlier compared to in-depth surveys of Hispanic voters.

Accurately polling Hispanic communities has historically been a headache for researchers, as it can be costly to reach some of the most disconnected voters in rural areas, conduct bilingual polls and track how Latinos communicate.

The Times/Siena poll was conducted in English and Spanish, but only 3% of interviews with Hispanics were conducted in Spanish.

Nationally, about 24 percent of Latinos prefer to receive their news in Spanish, and 21 percent actually receive their news in Spanish, according to the Pew Research Center.

And the sample of Hispanic voters in the February poll was small: 154 Hispanics responded to the question of voting preference between Trump and Biden.

An UnidosUS a poll of 3,037 eligible Hispanic voters nationwide — although conducted in November — found Biden leading Trump 51% to 33% in a head-to-head matchup.

However, that poll found some growing support for Trump: 54% of the same respondents said they supported Biden in 2020, compared to 28% for Trump.