POLL: Among Hispanics, Major Trend Toward Democrats (57% D vs. 23% R)

Hispanics and the 2008 Election: A Swing Vote?
by Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President, Pew Research Center and Richard Fry, Senior Research Associate, Pew Hispanic Center
December 6, 2007

After spending the first part of this decade loosening their historic ties to the Democratic Party, Hispanic voters have reversed course in the past year, a new nationwide survey of Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center has found.

Some 57% of Hispanic registered voters now call themselves Democrats or say they lean to the Democratic Party, while just 23% align with the Republican Party -- meaning there is now a 34-percentage-point gap in partisan affiliation among Latinos. In July 2006, the same gap measured just 21 percentage points -- whereas back in 1999, it had been 33 percentage points.



This U-turn in Hispanic partisan allegiance trends comes at a time when the issue of illegal immigration has become an intense focus of national attention and debate -- on the presidential campaign trail; in the corridors of federal, state and local governments; and on cable television and talk radio.

The new survey finds that a plurality of Hispanics view the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party as the one that shows more concern for Latinos and does a better job on the issue of illegal immigration (although a substantial minority of Latinos see no difference between the parties on these matters). Also, many more Latinos say the policies of the Bush Administration have been harmful to Latinos than say they have been helpful.

Hispanics are the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group; at 46 million strong, they make up about 15% of the U.S. population. Their electoral clout continues to be undercut, however, by the fact that many are ineligible to vote, either because they are not citizens or not yet 18 years old. In 2008, Latinos will comprise about 9% of the eligible electorate nationwide. If past turnout trends persist, they will make up only about 6.5% of those who actually turn out to vote next November.

<SNIP>

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/652/hispanics-2008-election

When a bigoted creep like Tom Tancredo is a viable Republican candidate for President, it isn't hard to see why Latinos would prefer the other party, is it?

They went up from 25% to 28% which is pretty much statistically insignificant and there was all this talk about how much inroads Repubs were making w/ Hispanics. :rofl: