Sen. Kamala D. Harris and former Obama administration official Julián Castro are now running first and second, respectively, among the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders in a new national poll of Hispanic adults taken after last week’s Democratic debate.
Twenty-two percent of respondents said they plan to vote Ms. Harris of California for president, according to the Univision poll out Tuesday — a big jump from the 6% who said the same in a Univision poll taken last month before the debate.
Mr. Castro of Texas was close behind at 18% — a 9-point gain compared to the poll from earlier in June.
Ms. Harris attracted attention after she confronted former Vice President Joseph R. Biden during the second night of the debate about his past positions on bussing to desegregate schools.
Mr. Castro, meanwhile, tangled with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas a night earlier on the issue of whether the U.S. should decriminalize illegal border crossings.
Mr. Biden was at 16% support, down 5 points from the earlier poll. Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont was also at 16% — a 4-point drop.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was the next-closest at 9%.
Thirty-two percent of respondents said they thought Ms. Harris won last week’s debate, and 28% said they thought Mr. Castro won. The two candidates did not appear onstage at the same time.
The survey of more than 400 “Latino citizen adults” was taken from June 28-30 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8%.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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