HispanicBusiness

The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization, today released its findings from a report it conducted June 9 through July 13, 2008. The nationwide survey of 2,015 Hispanic adults, 892 of whom reported that they are U.S. citizens and registered to vote, indicates that 66 percent of registered Hispanic voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president, while a comparatively small 23 percent support Republican John McCain.

This represents a sharp turnaround for Mr. Obama, who lost to Democratic rival Hilary Clinton in the Democratic primaries by nearly two-to-one. In fact, the survey found that more than 75 percent of Hispanics that voted for Mrs. Clinton during the primaries prefer Obama, while only 8 percent of former Clinton supporters would vote for McCain.

The study found that "support for Obama is strong across all demographic groups of Hispanic registered voters, with few significant differences by gender, age, education, income or immigrant status."

The study found that preferred language was not a highly significant factor: 71 percent of registered voters who preferred to be interviewed in Spanish for this survey leaned toward Obama, versus 64 percent for those who preferred to be interviewed in English.

It would also appear that Hispanics are more engaged in the political process than they were in the past. According to the report, "78 percent of Latino registered voters say they are following the election very closely or somewhat closely." This represents and increase from the 60 percent recorded regarding this very election in October 2007, and 72 percent in July 2004 (the comparable period during the last presidential election).

The Pew report found that 55 percent of Hispanic registered voters believe that Obama "is better for Hispanics", versus 11 percent for McCain. Twenty-nine percent indicated that they did not see a difference between the two candidates in this regard. The breakdown on who is better for immigrants was similar: respondents indicated that 50 percent would be better versus a mere 12 percent for McCain. Thirty-two percent indicated it wouldn't matter.

The full report can be found on The Pew Hispanic Center in pdf form by clicking here.