Survey predicts big Latino turnout in Calif. June primary in response to Trump

Antipathy toward President Trump could drive Latinos to the polls in record numbers this June, a new survey indicates.  Antipathy toward President Trump could drive Latinos to the polls in record numbers this June, a new survey indicates.  Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Survey predicts big Latino turnout in Calif. June primary in response to Trump 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Driven by antipathy toward President Trump and concerns about immigration, a record number of Latinos say they are planning to vote in California’s June 5 primary, according to a new survey. 

The survey of 900 registered Latino voters released Wednesday found that 68 percent said they were “100 percent” certain that they would vote.  That turnout would be off the charts for the state’s 4.5 million Latino voters, especially considering that only 25 percent of all registered California voters cast ballots in California’s last midterm election in 2014. 

“That’s extremely high,” said Matt Barreto, the poll’s director and co-founder of Latino Decisions, which conducted the poll on behalf of the Latino Community Foundation.  The foundation is holding a forum for California’s gubernatorial candidates next week in Los Angeles. “ The first driver of this is the Trump effect.  People are very dissatisfied with the actions he’s taking, particularly on immigration.” 

The increased interested is being driven by Trump, as 45 percent of the respondents said their interest in politics has increased since the president took office.  Many of those respondents were not happy with Republicans.  The survey found that 46 percent of the respondents said Republicans “don’t care too much” for Latinos and 31 percent found them to be “hostile.”  Only 17 percent thought Republicans “were doing a good job.” 

The survey found that 53 percent thought Democrats “were doing a good job,” 32 percent said they “don’t care too much,” and 8 percent thought they were “hostile” toward Latinos. 

In California’s gubernatorial race, the survey found that former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is the preferred candidate of Latino voters, with 39 percent saying they’d vote for him in the primary, followed by Lt.  Gov. Gavin Newsom with 15 percent of the vote.  No other candidate polled more than 5 percent. 

However, Barreto said there are still many voters to be swayed, as 22 percent remain undecided.  Also, 48 percent had no opinion of Newsom, the front-runner in most polls thus far, compared to 19 percent who didn’t have an opinion of Villaraigosa. 

Barreto said it was “too early to tell” if having Latino candidates running in several statewide race will increase turnout, as some have predicted. 

The survey found that the most respondents (30 percent) listed “welcoming immigrants and protecting their rights” as the most important issue facing Latinos. 

The survey’s margin of error is 3.3 percentage points. 

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer.  Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli