The good news for Democrat honchos is that many Hispanics like the D-brand. The bad news for Obama boosters is Latinos are not highly motivated to actually get out and vote, despite decades of effort from liberal legislators to make voting as easy as possible (like multilingual ballots). That’s too bad for BHO because Hispanics like him, they really like him. The D-party has been trying to transform the millions of illegal alien Hispanics into grateful Democrat voters via amnesties, but there are still a few bugs in the system. Why would newbies feel a sense of loyalty to America when they only came for the money? By comparison, many citizens with long family histories in America see voting as a civic duty, not an option. The latest poll data from Pew Hispanic delivers these items of interest.
Latinos and the 2010 Elections: Strong Support for Democrats; Weak Voter Motivation, Pew Hispanic Center, October 5, 2010
In a year when support for Democratic candidates has eroded, the party’s standing among one key voting group – Latinos-appears as strong as ever. Two-thirds (65%) of Latino registered voters say they plan to support the Democratic candidate in their local congressional district, while just 22% support the Republican candidate, according to a nationwide survey of Latinos. If this pro-Democratic margin holds up on Election Day next month, it would be about as wide as in 2008, when Latinos supported Barack Obama for president over John McCain by 67% to 31%.
However, Hispanic registered voters appear to be less motivated than other voters to go to the polls. Just one-third (32%) of all Latino registered voters say they have given this year’s election ”quite a lot” of thought. In contrast, half (50%) of all registered voters say the same. And when it comes to their intent to vote, half (51%) of Latino registered voters say they are absolutely certain they will vote in this year’s midterm election, while seven-in-ten (70%) of all registered voters say the same.
The survey finds that among Latino registered voters, Republicans may be more likely to turn out and vote than Democrats. Some 44% of Latino Republicans say they have given the election quite a lot of thought compared with 28% of Latino Democrats. This partisan gap is consistent with survey findings of the full population of registered voters. When it comes to opinions of President Barack Obama, a greater share of Latino registered voters approve of his job performance than do all U.S. registered voters – 63% versus 47%. Yet when asked about the effect of his administration’s policies on Hispanics, Latino registered voters are divided.
More than half (51%) say his policies have had no effect on Latinos, while one-in-four (26%) say they have been helpful to Latinos and 13% say they have been harmful. The new survey also reveals that the Democratic Party continues to hold a large advantage in party identification among Latino registered voters. More than six-in-ten (62%) Latino registered voters say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while one-quarter (25%) say the same for the Republican Party-a Democratic advantage of 37 percentage points.
Democrats are seen as the party that has more concern for Hispanics. Nearly half (47%) of Latino registered voters say this about the Democratic Party-down from 55% in 2008, but similar to the share on this question expressed by Latinos for much of the past decade. In contrast, very few see the Republican Party as more concerned about Latinos than the Democratic Party-just 6% of all Latino registered voters and 18% of Republican Latino registered voters say this.
When Arizona enacted an unauthorized immigrant enforcement bill earlier this year, the immigration policy debate reignited across the country. Even so, the new survey shows that immigration does not rank as a top voting issue for Hispanics. Rather, they rank education, jobs and health care as their top three issues of concern for this year’s congressional campaign. Immigration ranks as the fifth most important issue for Latino registered voters and as the fourth most important issue for all Latinos.
See the whole report: Latinos and the 2010 Elections: Strong Support for Democrats; Weak Voter Motivation.
