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Hispanic enthusiasm could prove key in pivotal races

Hispanic voters appear enthusiastic about the upcoming midterm election, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released just days before Election Day.

More than 8 in 10 Hispanic likely voters say that they had among the highest levels of enthusiasm, either 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale, about Tuesday's election. That's right on par with the enthusiasm level of all likely voters polled as well.

Registered Hispanic voters are slightly less likely to share those high levels of enthusiasm when compared to all registered voters—63 percent of Hispanic registered voters rate their enthusiasm between a 9 and a 10, compared to 70 percent of registered voters.

The question of Hispanic turnout is an important one in races across the country, including in pivotal Senate races in Arizona, Texas and Nevada as well as House races in those states and California, making Hispanic enthusiasm a key metric in reading the tea leaves.

Hispanics have a far more positive view of the Democratic Party when compared to the Republican Party. The poll finds likely Hispanic voters with a net 19-point positive rating of the Democratic Party and a 16-point net negative rating of the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party's positive rating with likely Hispanic voters is 49 percent, compared to 32 percent for the GOP.

These voters are also down on President Trump—34 percent of likely Hispanic voters approve of his job performance compared to the 62 percent who disapprove of his job as president.

So the NBC/Wall Street Journal polling suggests that if Hispanic turnout on Tuesday is strong, Democrats will stand to gain.

The margin of error for the sample of 171 likely Hispanic voters is 7.49 percent, while the margin for the 300 registered Hispanic voters is 5.66 percent.