Halfway through a town hall hosted by Univision on Wednesday, Ramiro Gonzalez stood in front of Donald J. Trump and told the former president that he had lost his support.
Mr. Gonzalez, 56, a self-described Republican, said he was alarmed when a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He did not like Mr. Trump’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, and he was dismayed by the chorus of former Trump administration officials who no longer support him. “I want to give you the opportunity to try to win back my vote,” Mr. Gonzalez, of Tampa, Fla., said.
Mr. Trump declined to take it.
Mr. Trump faced blunt, direct questions in both English and Spanish from undecided Hispanic voters throughout the town hall, which was broadcasted last night. Men and women from across the country came to Univision’s Miami-area studio in Doral, Fla., and questioned the former president’s positions on climate change, gun control and abortion rights, and his baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.
When Mr. Trump was asked about immigration, a central issue of his presidential campaign this year, he also remained vague about his policy plans.
The voters’ questions were polite yet pointed, and Mr. Trump kept his composure, avoiding the hostility he often exhibits when similarly questioned by the news media.
But Mr. Trump did not directly engage with many of the thoughtful questions from these voters. Skirting specific answers, he retreated to his standard campaign language, often talking up the achievements of his administration and making vague promises for the future. He would not say whether he believed climate change was a hoax, and he defended his role in overturning Roe v. Wade without staking out a position on abortion.
Yet when Mr. Trump was asked about immigration, a central issue of his presidential campaign this year, he also remained vague about his policy plans. In front of an audience of about 100 Latino voters, he did not once mention his pledge to undertake the largest deportation operation in American history.
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