Straight from Politico’s Playbook, two new polls show major problems for Democrats and candidate Obama. Biggest take away from the data 1) Republicans have a MAJOR opportunity with Hispanics voters. 2) Confirms that Latino voters are open to a conservative messages and want to reduce government spending. 3) Latinos want real reform to fix the broken immigration system, not just empty promises… I’ll have my analysis, and some historical content later. For now, here is the data:
POLITICO: “ FIRST LOOK — SOBERING FINDINGS FOR DEMS IN 2 PRIVATE POLLS:”
1) THIS CYCLE’S BIGGEST SURVEY OF LATINO VOTERS: Campaigns and party committees are getting confidential briefings on the findings of a bipartisan poll for Univision of 1,500 likely Latino voters, conducted by Mark Mellman of The Mellman Group (a Democratic firm) and Dave Sackett of The Tarrance Group (Republican). About one-third of the interviews were conducted in Spanish, and the poll oversampled in CA, TX, FL, NV, NM and AZ. Playbook was provided an exclusive look at the findings:
–The research finds A SUBSTANTIAL HISPANIC SWING VOTE. Dissatisfaction with the country’s direction creates an opening for Republicans with Hispanics, and PERRY’S STANDING IN TEXAS REVEALS HOW WELL THE GOP CAN DO WITH LATINOS. 57% of those polled consider themselves Democrats, 19% Republican and 15% independent. But 43% call themselves conservative, 37% liberal and 20% moderate. Even 32% of Democrats call themselves conservatives!
–Get this: For SWING Latino voters, the top concern was “the federal gov’t in DC is wasting too much of our tax money,” just ahead of education, Medicare, deficit, “family values are in decline” and jobs. Their top issues mirror the top issues of other swing voters: “illegal immigration is out of control” was cited by 14%, compared with 17% for “politicians aren’t serious about real immigration reform” (participants could give multiple answers).
–The point to the campaigns is that Spanish-language ads can be run on the candidates’ primary message – it doesn’t have to be a separate Hispanic track. 30% of Latino swing voters watch mostly Spanish-language TV, and even English speakers consider candidates’ Spanish ads as “a sign that they respect the community.”
allows children who grew up in America, yet as minors entered the country illegally by no fault of their own, to receive in-state college tuition, in the state in which they reside and graduated from high school. The state version of the Dream Act does not deal with immigration status.
