Nevada Latinos polled have low regard for GOP

Seventy-eight percent of Latinos polled in Nevada believe the Republican Party either doesn’t care about the Latino community or is hostile, according to a poll conducted by Latino Decisions and released last week.

The poll, commissioned by immigration reform group America’s Voice, surveyed 400 registered Latino voters in Nevada between April 3 and April 13. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percent either way. Latino Decisions is a firm that focuses on polling and research about issues affecting the Latino community.

In the poll, 31 percent said they believe the Republican party is hostile, while 47 percent believe the party doesn’t care very much about Latinos. Just 14 percent of those polled believe the Republican Party truly cares about Latinos, and 9 percent didn’t know.

Democrats fared better. More than half, 54 percent, said they believe the Democratic Party truly cares about the Latino community. Nineteen percent said they believe the Democratic Party doesn’t care very much. Another 12 percent perceive the Democratic Party as hostile to Latinos. Fourteen percent said they didn’t know.

In a match-up among presidential contenders, the polled Latinos overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., regardless of who the Republican candidates were.

In a Clinton versus Donald Trump matchup, Clinton got 76 percent of the vote to Trump’s 13 percent. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, did a bit better, getting 25 percent of the Latino vote, while Clinton got 67 percent.

Sanders did even better, getting 82 percent of the vote in a matchup against Trump, who got 9 percent of the Latino vote. In a matchup between Sanders and Cruz, 74 percent of Latinos polls supported Sanders and 20 percent backed Cruz.

— Ben Botkin

Kihuen releases tax returns

State Sen. and congressional candidate Ruben Kihuen took the unusual step of releasing two years of income tax returns last week.

The Democratic candidate in the 4th Congressional District did so in an effort to show his commitment to transparency.

At an April 14 debate event, three Democratic candidates, Kihuen, philanthropist Susie Lee and former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores expressed a willingness to release information about campaign contributions as they receive them on a weekly basis to be transparent.

Kihuen took it even further by including two years of his personal tax returns. To be fair, the candidates didn’t promise to release their tax returns at the debate.

At this point, he’s the only candidate to go that far in the race, though he’s encouraged others to do so.

He reported $14,029 in 2015 from his job as a state lawmaker. He also reported earnings that year of $55,846 from a public relations job at RJ Solutions Inc. He earned $69,875 in 2015.

— Ben Botkin

Hutchison travels to Israel

Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison went on a trip to Israel earlier this month as part of a delegation of lieutenant governors to learn about economic development and trade.

The Republican Lieutenant Governors Association took the group to Israel and the trip was sponsored by the State Government Leadership Foundation. The group also included lieutenant governors from Iowa, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Kansas.

The delegation talked about economic development with Israeli companies and met with officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Among the many meaningful opportunities to collaborate with Israel, none is more important to me than water,” said Hutchison, also vice chairman of the RLGA. “Israel and Nevada are world leaders in advanced water technology. I was pleased to strengthen this mutually beneficial relationship by meeting with Israeli companies partnering with Nevada agencies in this vital industry.”

— Ben Botkin

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin on Twitter.