Donald Trump handily won Nevada's Latino vote, according to iffy entrance and exit polls

Donald Trump won Nevada&#039;s Latino vote?

(Image credit: John Gurzinski/AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 24 February 2016

Donald Trump won among just about every demographic group in Nevada's Republican caucuses, especially voters looking for a Washington outsider, according to entrance polls. Perhaps the most surprising group Trump won was Latino voters, who made up 9 percent of the Republican caucus electorate and went for Trump 44 percent. Some 29 percent went for Marco Rubio and 18 percent went for for Ted Cruz, according to the entrance polls. (NBC News' exit poll had Trump winning 45 percent of Latino voters, representing 8 percent of GOP caucus-goers.)

Trump touted this apparent win in his victory speech Tuesday night: "You know what I really am happy about, because I've been saying it for a long time? 46 percent with the Hispanics. 46 percent! No. 1 with Hispanics."

There are a few reasons for skepticism about these numbers. First, exit and entrance polls have not been very accurate this election season. Second, the sample size of Latinos is very small. And third, the exit/entrance polls for Saturday's Nevada Democratic caucus suggested a Bernie Sanders win among Latinos, but most polling experts say its almost certain that Hillary Clinton won the Latino vote. None of that may matter much when it comes to Latino bragging rights, notes Russell Berman at The Atlantic. "Expect Trump to cite these Nevada polls from now until November if he is the Republican nominee."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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