The latest battleground state polls show Trump trailing Clinton by a narrow margin in Florida, a must-win state for him. One factor tilting the Florida field against Trump is surging voter registration among Latinos. As flagged by Greg Sargent, Politico's Marc Caputo reports:
Since the 2012 presidential election, Florida’s voter rolls have grown by 436,000 — and only 24 percent of that increase is from non-Hispanic white voters while non-whites grew by 76 percent, according to new voter registration numbers released in advance of the Aug. 30 primary.
The number of Hispanic voters leaped by 242,000, which was 55 percent of the increase. Latinos are now 15.4 percent of the voter rolls, up from 13.9 percent overall in 2012, when President Barack Obama narrowly carried Florida thanks to the outsized backing of minority voters.
Recent Florida polls show Trump is losing the Hispanic vote by historic margins to Hillary Clinton after the Republican’s incendiary comments about illegal immigrants, which offended a broad array of Latino leaders, including many in his own party.
Latino voters have no shortage of reasons to reject Trump. But what about positive motives to come out for Clinton and the Democrats generally? The Affordable Care Act -- generally a political loser for Democrats to date -- could be a factor. Latinos in particular, and minorities generally, have benefited hugely from the ACA in Florida. Here are the salient enrollment facts:
