Hispanic Voters Getting New Attention

Hispanic voters are getting new attention as the national debate over immigration reform continues to stay in the news.

Sunday's Washington Post has an article titled "Bush Is Losing Hispanics' Support, Polls Show." It reports on three new studies including a report in which my academic research project (the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University) played an advisory role. The successful micro-targeting firm Strategic Telemetry, run by Ken Strasma, conducted the research and analysis.

The lead paragraph and a few others in the story are quite interesting considering they were triggered by a poll conducted by The Latino Coalition, an organization widely believed to be Republican-leaning. Excerpts are below:

"Hispanic voters, many of whom responded favorably to President Bush's campaign appeals emphasizing patriotism, family and religious values in Spanish-language media in 2004, are turning away from the administration on immigration and a host of other issues, according to a new survey...

A survey of 800 registered Hispanic voters conducted May 11-15 by the nonpartisan Latino Coalition showed that Democrats were viewed as better able to handle immigration issues than Republicans, by nearly 3 to 1: 50 percent to 17 percent. Pitting the Democrats against Bush on immigration issues produced a 2 to 1 Democratic advantage, 45 percent to 22 percent.

The poll findings indicate that Republicans are likely to have a hard time replicating Bush's 2004 performance among Latino voters. According to 2004 exit polls, Bush received the backing of 40 percent of Hispanic voters, up from 34 percent in 2000. Other studies have put the 2004 figure somewhat lower, although there is general agreement that Bush made statistically significant gains from 2000 to 2004."

To read the full Washington Post article please click [here].