By Pilar Marrero – Pilar.marrero@laopinion.com | 2011-06-13
New Poll Results Posted Here
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The number of Latino voters who intend to support President Barack Obama increased by 9% compared with those supporting the president in the previous impreMedia/Latino Decisions (LD) poll, conducted two months ago. However, the same group is profoundly divided in their opinions about the Obama administration’s actions on immigration policy.
This increase in voting intentions favoring Obama among registered Latino voters should not be discounted as something isolated, since during the last two polls, 43% and 41% of respondents respectively said they would vote for him. During the most recent poll conducted in late May, 49% said they are sure they will vote to re-elect the president, while another 12% said they might vote for him.
Analysts think this increase is consistent with the support the president has obtained from the population as a whole, because of the capture and death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
However, in the case of Latino voters, this increase could have an added dimension: The Obama administration, knowing how dissatisfied Latinos are about the immigration issue, has been discussing the need for comprehensive reform. This started with a speech the president gave in May in Texas and continued with declarations made by several top administration officials. Just two weeks ago, Obama sent his secretary of labor, Hilda Solís—a popular former Los Angeles lawmaker—to East Los Angeles to talk about immigration.
“In some way, we could say Latino voters are partly responding to what seems to be a renewed interest from the Obama administration in bringing up immigration reform, which has strong support in the community,” said Matt Barreto, a political science professor at the University of Washington and pollster for LD.
Nevertheless, some poll numbers reveal Latinos do not completely support the president’s position on immigration and the reform issue. In fact, the divisions run deep: 48% said Obama is handling the issue well, while another 48% said he is not.
Although 46% said it is understandable, given everything Obama has to address, that he did not fulfill his promise to pass immigration reform during his first year in office, another 42% are not so understanding; they think he should have included the issue in his list of priorities anyway.
“Latino voters have responded positively to the mobilization to reactivate the immigration issue and are showing more support for Obama, but the other results show that next year, they will be looking for something more than speeches at the border,” added Barreto. “The president needs to push this reform proposal and strongly pressure Congress.”
Asked whether Obama is being sincere when he says his intention is to push for immigration reform, 51% of Latino voters agreed. But a significant number, 41%, think he is only saying what Latinos want to hear.
Likewise, Latinos are placing a good part of the blame on the shoulders of the GOP. Another poll question shows that 50% think the reform has not been approved because Republicans blocked it, while 33% think Obama did not push for reform strongly enough.
“It’s clear that Latino voters are holding the [Democratic] party responsible for not making too much of an effort on immigration, but also the Republicans for preventing it,” said Gabriel Sánchez, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico.
Among respondents, 55% think Republicans are constantly talking about securing the border as an excuse not to approve immigration reform. Only 30% think border security is a legitimate concern. And 62% think the country is focusing enough resources on raids and deportations, and they oppose increasing those resources.
Frank Sharry, president of America’s Voice, a pro-immigration reform group in Washington, D.C., said the poll’s results forecast political consequences for both parties.
“Republicans will have to do more than change their tone to connect with these voters, and Democrats will have to fulfill the promises they made, or they will have a harder time mobilizing the vote in 2012,” said Sharry.
METHODOLOGY:
LD polled 500 Latino registered voters between May 24 and June 4 in the 21 states with the largest Hispanic populations, representing 95% of the electorate. Those interviewed were selected at random from voter lists. The poll includes interviews conducted via cell phone and land line telephones. The margin of error is /-4.3%. The interviews were conducted in English or Spanish at the request of the respondent. Full results are posted here.
This is a news story about a poll. It´s not a statistical report and was not written by any of the professors here. it´s meant for a spanish newspaper audience. So chill.
The self-appointed “chosen” who OWN the FED and as result, the hearts and pockets of the USA are obviously turn ing it into the next USSA, with GULAGS all over the country, as they did to Tsarist Russia and turned it into a mega-prison, the USSR and destroyed Russia from inside . They´ve done it to the Roman Empire, they´ve done to revolutionary france, revolutionary Russia, they´ve done it to Emperial Germany, the British Empire, the EU, next is the USA . The Sanhedrin who own the FED are the only ones to blame for the looming world catastrophe . They are Jewish supremacists who divide and rule, sending all “others” against all other “others”, they hate humanity and wish to rule 7 billion humans enslaved to Zionism/Jewish supremacism. In the pipeline, escape the forecoming USSA before the looming Katastrophe. Humanity knows, all inteligence agencies in the planet know, but north-americans carry on enslaved to Zion´s whims , time for ALL of humanity to turn against those who are instrumentalizing the forecoming WW3, for the sake of Israel to enslave all of humanity. NO PASARÁN !
You must be talking about yourself Nerd. You’re the ones with low life expectancy.
Ahh yes. Another contribution from this fine population of inbreds. Now I have the stereotypical, cross-eyed, obese, illiterate-in-two-languages latino to blame for this disaster of a president.
Interesting poll — that’s quite a jump. I wonder how much has to do with Obama’s repeated calls for immigration reform since kickstarting the campaign.
Incidentally, I think there’s a math error here — it’s an 8 percent jump from 41 percent to 49 percent, right?
Since most of you teach, this report gets a D-
This report not up to your ususal standard of quality work! Obviously, I will not be using it in any of my sites.
Jon Garrido