The East Oakland bar during the dinner hour seemed an unlikely spot for a political “barnstorming” organizing event. Four guys were tossing bar dice at a table in the back. Another was selling Stephen Curry jerseys out of a gym bag. A sign inside the front door reminded patrons that selling or using narcotics inside is illegal — “including ‘weed.’”

But the couple dozen supporters of Bernie Sanders who had gathered inside the Sports Page bar in the predominantly African American and Latino neighborhood saw only opportunity. In a Field Poll released last week, Sanders had not only cut Hillary Clinton’s onetime 63-point lead in California to six points, he had also trimmed her lead among Latino voters to seven points less than two months before California’s June 7 primary. In October, Sanders trailed by 30 points.

No longer are Latino voters being touted as part of Clinton’s electoral “firewall” — a term some Latinos found offensive. Far from it. Nationally, the two are in a virtual dead heat among Latinos, according to a new poll conducted by the Public Research Institute in partnership with the Atlantic magazine.

“Something unusual is going on in the Latino community,” Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said. “You’re seeing a reappraisal of Clinton vis-a-vis Sanders. Now it is up for grabs.”

Connecting with community

With that in mind, the Sanders campaign is launching all sorts of grassroots, under-the-radar events to connect with the community. On Thursday, Sanders volunteers will hold a free Concierto del Pueblo in San Francisco’s Mission District to bring in new voters. But most of the campaign’s outreach has been more low-key over the past few months — passing out flyers in front of churches and markets in Latino neighborhoods, staffing tables outside BART stations.

“And we are just getting started,” said Adelita Gonzales, an Alameda resident who leads the volunteer outreach People of Color for Bernie Sanders. “Most people don’t know who Bernie Sanders is. Yeah, at first we get some of that, ‘Who is this old white guy?’ But after they learn what he’s about, they realize he’s better for Latinos than Hillary,” she said. “But all most Latinos have been hearing for years is, ‘Hillary. Hillary. Hillary.’”

California’s 4 million registered Latino voters make up roughly 28 percent of the eligible voter population. But there are still 2 million Latino adults who are eligible to vote, but not registered, according to Mindy Romero, director of the California Civic Engagement Project at UC Davis and an expert on young and Latino voters.

In many ways, Latino voters differ little from other demographic groups. Just as 38 percent of Californians of all backgrounds register as “no party preference,” Romero said a similar number of young Latinos register that way. And roughly the same percentage of all young Californians are registered as Democrats.

In many other Democratic presidential primary contests, Sanders has corralled the vast majority of young and independent voters. Overall, while 55 percent of California Latinos are registered Democrats, 25 percent are independents, Romero said.

Motivated by Trump

Plus, she said, the offensive, anti-immigrant remarks that Republican front-runner Donald Trump has made about building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border have encouraged many young Latinos to register and stop Trump from reaching the White House.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that an anti-Trump vote is for Clinton,” Romero said. “That’s where it benefits Sanders. Because they’re searching.”

Noting the “huge pool of unregistered Latino voters in California,” Menlo College political science Professor Melissa Michelson wondered, “What if there is a successful mobilization drive to register them? We have no idea how those voters would decide. Where would many of those first-time voters go?”

The Sanders campaign is trying to find out by diving into all parts of California to search for votes, including the Sports Page bar in East Oakland.

About half of the volunteers and the Bernie-curious who came to the event Monday were white. Roughly half had white or silver hair. But one by one, several took turns standing on a chair in the middle of the neighborhood tap, explaining why Sanders “represents working people” — a message that could resonate strongly in a corner of Oakland where median income and employment lag behind the rest of the city.

But only a few in the crowd were Latino, including Patricia Toscano.

Part of the challenge Sanders faces, Toscano said, is that “he’s not very well known around here, especially in the Latino community.”

“But once people hear about him, they realize that he’s more about the community,” said Toscano, 46, a senior services administrator who lives in Oakland. “And Hillary is Hillary. I don’t like that she’s gotten all her money from the banks and Wall Street. Sanders just seems more real, more authentic when he says stuff.”

Party bosses back Clinton

Still, connecting with Latino voters is going to be a slog for the Sanders campaign. While Clinton holds a 1,307 to 1,087 lead among pledged delegates, 469 of the Democratic superdelegates — elected leaders and top party officials — support her, compared with 31 who back Sanders. Those party bosses, not Latinos, comprise Clinton’s new “firewall.”

Clinton — through her tenure in the Senate, as secretary of state and as first lady — has high name recognition across all demographic lines. And so do some of California’s best-known political leaders — including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, and state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles — who have endorsed Clinton.

While young Latinos may favor Sanders, Clinton supporters say it is important to realize that the Latino voting segment is not monolithic. Like voters across the demographic spectrum in the Field Poll, those younger than 40 were in Sanders’ camp, while those older backed Clinton.

“You have to target Latino voters just as you would have white voters. All white voters are not all one party or one ideology. Neither are Latinos,” said Roger Salazar, a Clinton supporter who works with several top Latino organizations in California. “Younger Latinos might be more interested in education, while older voters might be more into immigration. You have to micro-target them.”

The gathering in East Oakland was a modest effort to do that. Even though only a few Latinos showed up, Shirley Golub, the white Oakland resident who organized the event, was pleased with the response.

“All my clipboards to sign up for phone banking are gone,” said Golub, a real estate agent who once ran against Rep. Nancy Pelosi. “All my clipboards to sign up for voter registration are gone. If it’s going to happen, you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli