'Latinos For Trump' Rally For GOP Candidate In Anaheim
ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A crowd of about 100 Latino supporters pledged votes for Donald Trump at a rally Sunday in front of Anaheim City Hall.
"A lot of people don't want to come out and say, but there are thousands of Latinos and Hispanic Americans voting for Trump," said Nathan Olivarez.
According to a poll by the Pew Research Center released in July, Latino voters support Hillary Clinton over Trump by a ratio of almost three to one. Trump's Latino supporters say the polls are inaccurate.
Hispanic supporters of Trump say they'll vote for him for reasons that include religious beliefs and cultural traditions.
"There is this impression that Hispanics only vote Democrat," said Ofelia Ramirez, a college-educated mother of five. "They don't educate themselves to see that there is another way."
Trump was heavily criticized by Latinos when he called for a wall to seal off the United States from Mexico. He has at times softened his stance on that issue, but only yesterday tweeted "We need strong border and WALL!"
"I'm OK with the wall," said Fred Rodriguez. "Immigration is part of America. It's the illegal immigration that's a problem."
Many at Sunday's rally cited jobs and the economy as a reason they're supporting Trump, saying they believe he would do a better job with the economy than Hillary Clinton.
Others said some Democratic leaders broke campaign promises to Latino voters.
"I'm sick and tired of any party using race and bigotry just to garner votes," said Trump Supporter Joe Perez. "Once they get the votes, they give you the finger and go away until the next election."
Sunday night on KCAL9, Trump's policies were debated by Latino Trump supporter Jorge Herrera and Hillary Clinton supporter and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Monica Garcia.