Several days after the poll’s initial release and following repeated Twitter prodding on the subject by the President himself, the nation’s top two Spanish-language television networks finally got around to reporting on the big jump in job approval for Trump among Hispanics.
When the results from the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey were first released on January 17, showing that 50% of Hispanics approve the job Donald Trump is doing as President, Univision and Telemundo fled from the news like the plague.
In the following days, after President Trump repeatedly tweeted about the 19-point increase, however, the two networks finally got around to reporting on the poll.
CLAUDIA UCEDA, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: A Marist/ NPR/PBS poll conducted in the middle of the government shutdown suggests that 50 percent of Latinos surveyed approve the work of the President. An increase of 19 percent compared with the results of another survey conducted in December. 46 per cent of respondents disapprove of him.
In Univision's report on the subject, both Washington correspondent Claudia Uceda and senior news anchor Jorge Ramos employ several tactics to attempt to undercut the significance of the results, including the repeated use of the word “suggests” when the 50% number is by no means a suggestion, but rather the actual finding of the hard data. Ditto when Uceda goes on to diss Trump’s Latino popularity boomlet as “presumed increasing support.”
Revealing the height of hypocrisy in his reporting on the survey, Ramos opens the segment by saying the poll “concludes” (instead of “suggests”) that Trump’s popularity is down among other segments of the population such as Republicans (83% vs. 90% the previous month)
The Univision report further attempts to undercut the significance of Trump’s Hispanic boost by pointing out that the 50% level of support registered among Latinos has a 10% margin of error, but the 19% increase far exceeds the margin of error, which means Trump’s actual Hispanic support could be as high as 60% or as low as 40%, which would still be notably higher than the 39% approval rating registered among the U.S. population as a whole.
Telemundo, in contrast (relevant transcripts below), simply reported the poll straight up.
NOTICIERO UNIVISION
January 22, 2019
06:50 PM Eastern
JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: A recent survey concluded that the popularity of President Trump fell among Republicans, evangelicals and white men without college education, that is, his main base of support. On the other hand, the survey suggests that it increased 19 percent among Hispanics. Some analysts questioned the methodology of the survey, but as Claudia Uceda informs, President of Trump is celebrating Hispanic support.
CLAUDIA UCEDA, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: The President today again boasted about his presumed growing support among Hispanics. He wrote ‘approval rating among Latinos going to 50 percent, an increase in one year of 19%. Thank you’ wrote Trump. This weekend he also praised himself. ‘Just heard my poll numbers with Hispanics has gone up 19%, to 50%. That is because they know the border issue better than anyone, and they want border security.’ That generated all kinds of reactions.
FIRST UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I’d be surprised if that were true.
SECOND UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I am happy to hear that. I did not know.
UCEDA: A Marist/NPR/PBS poll conducted during the middle of the government shutdown suggests that 50 percent of Latinos surveyed approve the work of the President. An increase of 19 percent compared with the results of another survey conducted in December. 46 per cent of respondents disapprove of him.
DR. LEE MIRINGOFF, DIRECTOR, MARIST INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC OPINION (TRANSLATED BY UCEDA): This is not a survey of Hispanics. This is a survey of Americans. Otherwise the methodology and manner would have been different
UCEDA: said a director of the study. He refers to the survey having interviewed only 153 Hispanics, which suggests that the sample is not representative of Latinos in general. The questions were only done in English and the margin of error was about 9.9 percent, which means that Trump’s approval could be 40 percent or 60 percent.
DR. LEE MIRINGOFF, DIRECTOR, MARIST INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC OPINION (TRANSLATED BY UCEDA): The numbers suggest an increase, but we have to wait for the results of more polls to see evidence that there is a greater change.
UCEDA: Experts say with a larger sample of people interviewed, the precision of the survey is greater and the margin of error smaller. In the study, there is evidence of contradicting trends. 58 percent of Hispanics said they would vote against Trump in the 2020 presidential elections, while only 27% indicated they would definitely vote for him
PETER SCHECHTER, POLITICAL ANALYST: From the get go, that discrepancy is strange and suspicious. When people say I approve, but I would not vote, then how can this poll be reliable?
UCEDA: In Washington, Claudia Uceda, Univisión.
NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO
January 20, 2019
06:42 PM Eastern
JULIO VAQUEIRO, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: A poll shows that more Hispanics approve the work of the President. Rogelio Mora-Tagle tells us more.
[…]
ROGELIO MORA-TAGLE, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: A poll by PBS and NPR, public television and radio, show that since the shutdown began the President has lost support in many sectors, but surprisingly has gained almost 20 percentage points with one group: Hispanics. Today, the President was bragging about those figures. ‘My numbers in the polls among Hispanics rose 19 percent and reached 50 per cent. They want border security and they will only get it with a wall’.
