WASHINGTON - Latino leaders say Donald Trump's personal insults of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado could further propel turnout in November, and a new poll suggests that Trump's attacks may be having an effect on Latinos' already negative view of the GOP nominee.

But despite Trump's missteps and a surge in voter registration, some Latino advocates worry that Democrats and deep-pockets donors are failing to support mobilization efforts needed to get irregular voters to the polls.

A poll of Latinos released Sunday showed further erosion in the GOP nominee's ratings - 77 percent unfavorable now - 5 percentage points worse than a week ago. Democrats are looking at key battleground states, among them Florida, Nevada and Colorado, as places where Latinos' still-diminishing view of Trump could prove decisive.

The tracking poll, sponsored by the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Education Fund and Noticias Telemundo, captured fallout from Trump's ongoing jabs last week at Machado for gaining weight when she was Miss Universe. Latinos found the attacks in the debate and afterward as offensive to them, and Trump compounded the damage in his Twitter tirade when he referred to Machado's "sex tape past," widely seen as a false allegation.

Trump apparently was referring to a 2005 night-vision clip from "La Granja," a Spanish reality program, that shows Machado and a man moving rhythmically under a blanket or sheet absent nudity or anything explicit, similar to some scenes in U.S. reality shows.

The nonpartisan tracking poll showed why Trump is a refrain in Democratic ads focused on Latinos: Hillary Clinton is viewed favorably by two-thirds of Latinos - far better than by people generally - and led Trump 73-16 percent when Latinos were asked which candidate they prefer.

Adding to the decline

Houston pollster Sylvia Manzano of Latino Decisions, which conducts the tracking surveys, points to still another possible reason for Trump's ongoing decline among Latinos: Cuba - and Trump's efforts to drum up business opportunities in the 1990s during the embargo, an issue followed especially closely in Florida.

Manzano said that despite some reports of Latinos becoming tuned out, her polling shows that the level of interest already has eclipsed what surveys showed four years ago.

"I've heard media chatter about Latinos not enthused, but we don't have evidence to support that," she said.

In Bexar County, which surpassed the 1 million mark in registered voters in late June, had 1,028,657 registered voters Monday - 100,000 more than in 2012, said Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen. Other cities with large Hispanic populations also say registration has surged.

Enthusiasm is not enough

Nonetheless, advocates worry that Democrats and philanthropies aren't devoting more to corralling that enthusiasm in the campaign's last weeks. The San Antonio-based Southwest Voter Registration Education Project operated in as many as 14 states in the past decade but limited funding this election has reduced efforts to just three states beyond Texas.

"I think campaigns and corresponding groups are supporting efforts to turn out the voters that the campaigns think they need. In Hillary's case, its white men," said Lydia Camarillo, Southwest Voter vice president.

Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, a Los Angeles-based national advocacy group, said he, too, worries about missed opportunity. He said Machado "represents pride in the Latino community. He (Trump) insulted one of our heroes."

Monterroso added: "It looks to me that it's politics as usual in not building for the future. I don't see the coordination. I don't see it in the streets. I don't see it in the barrios."

Democrats in Texas and Washington say efforts aimed at Latinos are building. Democratic National Committee spokesman Walter Garcia said additional party efforts will unfold in coming days.

"We're constantly working to make sure that we highlight how dangerous and divisive Trump's candidacy is," he said.

Red-state Texas typically settles for drips from the national party funding spigot in presidential election years. But Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa pointed to the DNC opening offices in Houston and Austin this season and heavy national funding of Alpine Democrat Pete Gallego in his challenge of U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, in the San Antonio-area quintessential swing district.

Four million votes on the table

In a conference call Friday, Hinojosa said: "We all know that the biggest problem we've had in getting the state to turn blue is the turnout in the Latino community. We leave 4 million votes on the table every election from that community. Texas is not really a red state, it's a nonvoting state."

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, pointed to the nearly 940,000 increase in the number of legal immigrants who have applied to become citizens as further indication of an energized Latino electorate.

Castro is doing his part for Democrats nationally: He campaigned in Louisiana over the weekend and has trips planned for Florida and Iowa.

Castro also is party-building in Texas, helping to finance a strategy in which people reach out to friends and relatives who in turn reach out to others with encouragement to vote. He likened the method to people asking others to help them move on a weekend.

"They help you not because they like moving on a Saturday but because you asked them to," he said.

In the Latino Victory Project's late efforts, a rock 'n' roll soundtrack accompanies the sound of money. Latino Victory was formed two years ago by actress and activist Eva Longoria and Henry Muñoz, the San Antonio entrepreneur and Democratic Party finance chairman.

Latino Victory is partners with the rock band Mana, of Guadalajara, Mexico, in an online campaign, #CuentaConmigo (count on me), with concerts so far in El Paso and Las Vegas and another planned in Miami.

The Longoria-Muñoz PAC also has spent $1.3 million this election, most of it supporting Latino candidates.

"You can't take our community for granted," said state Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso. "Just because Trump is out there doesn't mean these funding organizations have to make less investment. They can't be short-sighted."

Nevada, where more than 1 in 5 voters are Latino, is the battleground state with the biggest Latino percentage and potentially a place where Latinos could make a big difference Nov. 8.

Latinos see their best chance yet to send the first Latina to the U.S. Senate in the battle to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat and former two-term state attorney general, trails U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, a physician and three-term congressman, in recent polls.

Heck led by just two points in a Las Vegas Review-Journal survey published Sunday, suggesting that a robust turnout could put Cortez Masto over the top.

Last week, Cortez Masto answered charges by two of Heck's former advisers that she is "hispandering" for votes, with one of her critics remarking that she doesn't speak fluent Spanish.

Cortez Masto, whose grandfather emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, called the barbs a slap at Mexican-Americans "who have come to this country . have worked hard, and have made a life for them and their families."

In the battleground state of Florida, an influx of Democratic-leaning voters arriving from Puerto Rico is rapidly changing the Hispanic electorate and may be a key factor in November, analysts say.

In the past, Republicans could bank on strong support from Cuban-Americans in Florida. That GOP support has eroded in recent years, particularly among young Cuban-Americans. In 2012, Barack Obama captured the Cuban-American vote.

Since then, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have moved to Florida after fleeing the island's debt crisis and economic woes, many of them settling in the Orlando area.

Susan MacManus, a commentator and University of South Florida professor, noted intense organizing in the Orlando area and successes in state legislative contests of candidates of Puerto Rican heritage.

"We're really starting to see the exertion of Puerto Rican political power. That has to be helpful to Hillary Clinton," she said.

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