The importance of the Hispanic vote to President Barack Obama’s re-election chances is practically impossible to overstate. Yet the significance of the Hispanic vote to the long-term prospects of the Republican Party is arguably greater still.
A Latino Decisions poll of 5 swing states released June 17 revealed that Obama’s executive action to ease the pressure on young illegal immigrants, enabling them to avoid deportation and apply for work permits, has resonated with Hispanic voters.
A previous Latino Decisions poll had found widespread discontentment with Obama’s record 1 million deportations; in January, 41 percent of Hispanic voters said they had grown less enthusiastic about the president as a result. In the swing state poll released Sunday, however, 49 percent of Hispanics surveyed in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia said the president’s halt on youth deportations would make them more enthusiastic about Obama, with only 14 percent saying it would make them less so.
If a rise in “enthusiasm” leads to a rise in Hispanic turnout to close to 2008 levels, it could make the difference for Obama in some or all of those five states -- and possibly others besides -- in November. Colorado, for example, has 455,000 eligible Hispanic voters. In 2010, Democrat Michael Bennet won a U.S. Senate seat there by a margin of about 29,000 votes. READ MORE
Comments