Latinas came out stronger for Hillary Clinton than white women, but not as strong as black women in New York’s Democratic primary.
Latinas made up 8 percent of all voters casting ballots on the Democratic side, with Latinos making up 14 percent in total for Democrats. On the Republican side, Latinos made up 5 percent of the those casting votes for the GOP.
Latinas made up 8 percent of the 14 percent of all Latinos who were queried after voting Tuesday.
Latinas voted 67 percent for Clinton and 33 percent for Bernie Sanders, according to the exit polls.
Clinton did best among black women, 79 percent of whom said they voted for her, compared to 21 percent for Sanders. But among white women, she got only 56 percent of the vote, while Sanders got 44 percent.
The greater share of support from women of color is significant considering white women have made more gains than women of color.
"The campaign understands very clearly the role that women of color have had in getting Hillary to where she is now," said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist who served as a senior adviser to Clinton's first presidential campaign and is backing her in this one.
"They know and she will know who will have gotten her to the White House when she gets elected and I think for Latinas for women of color it will be a huge monumental shift ... She not only understands the issues but she will understand ... that not only is she the first woman, white woman, but that she is representative of the aspirations and the hopes and the dreams of all women."
Early in the campaign, before Clinton was getting fierce competition from Sanders, her campaign made Latinas a target for votes.
Related: Clinton Homes in on Latinas, a Growing Part of the Electorate
Clinton campaign surrogate and New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who is Puerto Rican, launched a national “Mujeres in Politics” campaign.
The campaign is an expansion of an initiative begun in Nevada by Clinton campaign staffers in the states.
Latinas are a growing part of the Latino electorate, so snagging their support is critical.
In Florida, Latinas were 11 percent of the people polled after voting and Latinas backed Clinton 76 percent to 24 percent for Sanders.
In Texas, 17 percent who participated in exit polling were Latin and 72 percent of Latinas voted for Clinton, compared to 27 percent for Sanders.
"Because it was women of color that will essentially have gotten her there, she is going to understand that and reflect it in her policies, in her appointments, in the events she does, in the people she hires around her in the White House and every other manner that she can demonstrate it," Cardona said.
The exit poll was conducted by Edison Research for a coalition of media organizations. Interviews were conducted with 1,391 Democratic voters and 957 Republican voters at 35 precincts throughout New York State. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for each contest. For smaller groups, such as Latinos the margin of error increases. The question on race got responses from 1,372 people and 200 were Latino.
