Republican Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt and gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo are leading with Hispanic voters — one of the most important voting blocs in the state necessary for securing a GOP victory — by double digits, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found.

In the Silver State Senate race, former state Attorney General Laxalt has the support of 49 percent of Hispanic voters compared to incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) 37 percent — a shocking 12-point difference given Cortez Masto’s status as the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) speaks to reporters as she arrives for the Senate Democrats’ lunch in the Capitol on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In the gubernatorial race, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo is leading Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak with Hispanic voters 51 percent to 33 percent. The poll shows Lombardo leading Sisolak with overall voters by five points, outside the survey’s +/- 4 percent margin of error, by 47 percent to 42 percent. Laxalt also leads Cortez Masto by five points, 48 percent to 43 percent. Rasmussen Reports surveyed 707 likely Nevada voters from Oct. 13-17 with a 95 percent confidence level.

Hispanics and Latinos notably make up roughly 30 percent of Nevada’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A 2022 Nevada Latino Voter Profile report released over the summer estimated that 1 in 5 midterm voters in the state will be Latino.

As the Washington Post notes, Democrats have “depended on the votes of Latinos in closely fought elections.”

“In 2016, they favored Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by 60 percent to 29 percent, helping Clinton win the state by two percentage points overall, according to exit polls. In 2020, that margin shrank to 61 percent to 35 percent, as Joe Biden also won by two points,” according to the report.

“This year Democrats in Nevada are especially worried, both about their margins and assuring a hefty turnout among Latino voters sympathetic to their candidates. They say the current political climate is as challenging as they have seen it in years. Economic issues are paramount,” the report continued. “Nevada has struggled to rebound fully from massive job losses in the hospitality industry triggered by pandemic shutdowns, and now high prices for gasoline, groceries and housing are being felt acutely among Latinos and others.”

Jason Ventura prepares to pump gas into his vehicle, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

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