President Trump made a pitch to Latino voters at a rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Monday night, touting the low unemployment rate for Hispanic Americans and declaring that he'd win the state.
Why it matters: Trump's attempt to win the Democratic stronghold, where almost half the population is Hispanic, will provide a test of how well his hardline immigration policies and rhetoric about immigrants will play with Latino voters, as AP notes.
Details: In his first visit to the border state as president, Trump also railed against Democrats, the media, and the New York Times in particular for reporting a new allegation of sexual misconduct leveled against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — which he called a "smear."
- During the rally, Trump singled out supporter and CNN commentator Steve Cortes, who was in the audience, saying: "He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do. ... But I’ll tell you what, there is nobody that loves this country more or Hispanics more than Steve Cortes."
- Trump was criticized by Democrats for asking Cortes whether he liked the country or Hispanics more.
The big picture: Trump lost New Mexico in 2016. But Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale told Politico that the team had seen a "dramatic increase" in favorable polling from 2016 that made them decide to hold the rally near Albuquerque.
- It would be a remarkable achievement if Trump could pull off a surprise win.
- His net approval rating in the state has fallen from +17 when he first took office to -13 in July, and demographers and pollsters told Axios' Stef Knight it's highly unlikely the president could win New Mexico's 5 electoral votes.
Hispanic Heritage Month 2019!“Yesterday marked the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month… we have much to celebrate.” -President Donald J. Trump
Posted by GOP on Monday, September 16, 2019
Go deeper: Why Trump is rallying in New Mexico
