Coordinated Campaign 2008 - Harris County Democratic Party

Some promising news for the top of our ticket comes today from the Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON — Hispanic support for Republicans has collapsed in the past four years, driven by immigration, the sagging economy and the Iraq war, a new poll has found.

The poll of 2,015 Latino voters conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Democrat Barack Obama, who lost the Hispanic vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 2-to-1 in the Democratic primary, holds a commanding 66 percent to 23 percent lead over Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The Democratic tide in the Latino community is so strong that Obama leads among every nationality group, including the historically Republican Cuban-American population, where Obama now leads, 53 percent to 29 percent.

The Illinois Democrat is running far ahead among Mexican-Americans, who cast about 40 percent of their ballots for George W. Bush in 2004. Among voters of Mexican ancestry, Obama leads McCain, 70 percent to 21 percent.

Obama is running so far ahead that he has the support of 25 percent of Hispanics who identify themselves as Republicans and holds an edge of about 5-to-1 among Latinos who consider themselves political independents…

…The Pew survey finds the largest Democratic lead in party identification in its decade of polling — a 39 percentage point edge. Just 16 percent of registered Hispanic voters say they are Republicans, and another 10 percent are independents who lean to the GOP.

That Democratic edge has nearly doubled in the past two years, from a 49 percent to 28 percent edge in 2006 to today’s 65 percent to 26 percent advantage.

Obama leads McCain among all issues in the Hispanic community. On immigration, the Democrat has a huge advantage — even though his rival from Arizona has a liberal record on immigration — 59 percent to 19 percent. Half of Latinos say Obama would be better for immigrants, while just 12 percent say McCain would help immigrants more.

On the war in Iraq, Latinos trust Obama more to handle it, 58 percent to 27 percent — dashing Republicans’ hopes to appeal to the “patriotism factor” in Hispanic Americans. And on jobs, Hispanics prefer Obama, 65 percent to 19 percent.

While the hard-line rhetoric of some Republican conservatives has alienated many Latinos, the issue of immigration appears to have receded a bit as a voting issue. While 75 percent of Hispanics say immigration is “extremely” or “very” important to them, it lagsbehind education, Latino’s top concern at 93 percent, and pocketbook issues such as the rising cost of living (92 percent), jobs (91 percent) and health care (90 percent).

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5905184.html