Two-thirds of U.S. Hispanic voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain and the partisan gap among the United States’ fastest growing voter bloc is broader than at any point this decade, a study found.
The nationwide telephone survey by the Pew Hispanic Center released on Thursday said 66 percent of a sample of 892 registered Latino voters polled said they backed Obama, with 23 percent supporting McCain, a senator from Arizona.
The survey said Obama’s strong showing represented a sharp reversal in his fortunes from the primaries “when he lost the Latino vote to Hillary Rodham Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, giving rise to speculation in some quarters that Hispanics were disinclined to vote for a black candidate.”
The study said 65 percent of Latino registered voters now identified with, or leaned toward, the Democratic Party, compared with just 26 percent who said they identified with the Republican Party.
“This 39 percentage point Democratic Party identification edge is larger than it has been at any time this decade,” the study said.
Popularity: 71% [?]
