Puerto Rico joke at Trump rally didn’t go over well with Latino voters, poll shows
During a recent rally for former President Donald Trump, one of the featured speakers — comedian Tony Hinchcliffe — made a joke in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
The remark did not go over well with Latino voters in a key swing state, new polling reveals.
In a Univision/YouGov poll of Latino voters in Pennsylvania, the vast majority of respondents, 69%, said they believed the comments were “more racist than humorous.”
A far smaller share, 17%, said they believed the remarks were intended to be comical and were not serious.
Additionally, 71% of Puerto Rican respondents said the comments — even if they were meant to be comical — indicate “there is racism within the Trump campaign.”
Soon after the rally, Trump sought to distance himself from Hinchcliffe, telling Fox News, “I have no idea who he is…You throw comedians in, you don’t vet them and go crazy. It’s nobody’s fault. But somebody said some bad things,” according to The Guardian.
“I can’t imagine that it’s a big deal,” the former president added.
Hinchcliffe also weighed in on the controversy, writing on X, “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set.”
Conducted between Oct. 29 and Nov. 3, the poll sampled 400 Latino voters in the Keystone State and has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
The poll also found that the majority of Latino respondents, 53%, believed Trump is “very disrespectful” to Latinos. A much smaller share, 19%, said he is “very respectful” to Latinos.
Additionally, 64% of respondents said they support Vice President Kamala Harris, while 30% said they support Trump.
The poll comes on the eve of the presidential election and after numerous other polls that have found Trump and Harris are neck-and-neck in swing states like Pennsylvania.
Some polls have also shown Trump gaining ground with Latino voters, particularly Latino men.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Puerto Rico joke at Trump rally didn’t go over well with Latino voters, poll shows."