Gun safety group releases Spanish-language midterm ads in Nevada

Everytown for Gun Safety on Wednesday launched two Spanish-language ads in Nevada attacking a pair of GOP midterm candidates for their opposition to gun safety measures.

The ads target Republican Senate hopeful Adam Laxalt and attorney general candidate Sigal Chattah, calling Laxalt the gun industry’s “pitchman” and branding Chattah as “dangerous.”

Although voters in Western states tend to favor a more lenient interpretation of the Second Amendment, a majority of Hispanic voters have consistently polled in favor of gun safety measures.

“Latinos are disproportionately impacted by gun violence, so it’s no surprise that Latinos are also extremely motivated to vote for candidates who support common-sense gun safety laws,” said José Alfaro, Everytown’s director of Latino leadership and community engagement. 

As research for the two ads, Everytown joined with top Latino advocacy organization Latino Victory Fund to poll Hispanic likely voters in Arizona, Colorado and Nevada on gun safety and reproductive rights.

The surveys found — consistent with previous national polling — that at least 60 percent of Hispanic voters in each state are concerned either they or someone they know could be a victim of gun violence.

“The poll results reflect Latino voters’ concerns about the gun violence epidemic — they overwhelmingly support gun violence prevention and want to support candidates who support gun safety laws,” said Yvonne Gutierrez, managing director of the Latino Victory Project.

The ad attacking Chattah also calls out her position on abortion, another issue where Democrats see opportunities to reach Hispanic voters.

Still, the surveys found that the top concern for Hispanic voters is the economy and inflation. 

In the Nevada poll, respondents rated the economy on average a 7.7 out of 10 on their list of concerns, gun violence a 6.5 out of 10 and the possibility that they or someone they know may not be able to get in-state abortion services a 5.4 out of 10.

While the responses to most poll queries found stark partisan dividing lines, the question on concern for abortion access had the biggest gulf, with 70 percent of Democrats expressing concern versus only 23 percent of Republicans.

Still, when the questions were tied to political action, respondents overwhelmingly supported gun safety measures.

Respondents ranked a candidate’s support for “commonsense” gun safety laws, such as background checks, as the most important gun-related issue that could sway their vote.

Among all respondents, the commonsense topic was rated as an 8 on a scale of 10. Democrats on average rated safety laws as an 8.8 out of 10, while Republicans gave it a 6.4 out of 10.

Colorado and Arizona polls found similar numbers. Each state’s poll had a sample size of 300 Hispanic registered voters, and the polls were conducted in English and Spanish via phone.

Due to the low number of respondents who said they were Republican or independent, the pollsters warned that the statistical significance of subgroups of those voters is lower than that of the overall poll.

Still, the polls — and the resulting ads — show Democrats have maintained a policy advantage on social issues when reaching out to a majority of Hispanic voters.

“Latino voter support for gun violence prevention is a motivating factor not only to vote, but to support candidates who will fight for gun violence prevention laws,” Gutierrez said.