BELL, California (Reuters) – Violeta Alvarez is so passionate about Bernie Sanders that she becomes emotional talking about the white, 78-year-old senator from Vermont, a state 3,000 miles from this sun-drenched California enclave.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve seen a presidential candidate reaching out to the city of Bell, this small community,” said Alvarez, a 53-year-old volunteer organizer, pointing to goose bumps breaking out on her arm.
Sanders’ campaign hopes efforts in communities like Bell, a working-class, mainly Latino city of 35,000 people near Los Angeles, could be his path to the Democratic Party’s nomination to take on Republican President Donald Trump in November.
The Sanders campaign says it has prioritized outreach to Hispanic communities that often feel left out of the U.S. political process. Polls suggest that is paying off in important early states with large Latino populations, notably Nevada, which holds its caucuses on Saturday; and Texas and California, where votes are cast on March 3.
Sanders has the support of 29% of Hispanic voters nationwide, the most of any Democratic presidential candidate, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling between Jan. 22 and Feb 10. New polling released on Thursday by Monmouth University showed Sanders leading his closest rival in California, former Vice President Joe Biden, by seven percentage points thanks to predicted high turnout among Latinos.
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