Latino Voter Support for Obama Waning
impreMedia, the leading Hispanic news and information company, announced today the results of an ongoing tracking poll on electoral issues conducted in conjunction with Latino Decisions.
The poll indicated declining support for President Obama and the results suggest that the President and Democratic Party may face a continuing political problem in retaining Hispanic support.
The survey was conducted between late July and early August, and compared results with a poll taken in February and June with the same series of questions.
Thirty-nine percent of Latino voters said they were certain to vote for President Obama in the upcoming elections, compared to 43% in February, and 49% when asked shortly after the capture of Osama Bin Laden and alongside the President’s speech on immigration reform in June.
The majority of respondents also indicated they were looking forward to voting in the upcoming elections, with 50% saying they were “enthusiastic” and 26% saying “somewhat enthusiastic.”
“The Democrats and President Obama should be concerned,” said Hilda Garcia, VP of Multiplatform News and Information from impreMedia. “The changes in approval ratings for The President may not mean much this far from the election but it is a potential signal that President Obama is losing ground among the Hispanic electorate. The 2008 election was solid proof of the importance of the Latino vote, a demographic that will be important again in 2012 for gaining the super majority and winning key states.”
The poll indicated that Republican approval has stayed somewhat steady albeit at very low levels overall. The most recent poll shows 10% of Latino voters say that they will certainly vote Republican and another 6% say they are undecided but leaning towards Republican.
The current release focused on the political climate fifteen months away from the presidential election and is part of an ongoing tracking poll conducted by impreMedia and Latino Decisions. The poll is conducted with a sample of 500 registered Latino voters.
A sampling of results is below:
- Generally speaking, what are the most important issues facing the Latino community that you think Congress and the President should address?
o Immigration Reform/Dream Act: 37% (42% U.S. born/32% foreign born)
o Create Jobs/Unemployment: 25% (23% U.S. born/27% foreign born)
o Education Reform/Schools: 20% (20% U.S. born/20% foreign born)
- Do you approve/disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as President?
o Strongly Approve: 28% (27% U.S. born/29% foreign born)
o Somewhat Approve: 35% (37% U.S. born/33% foreign born)
o Somewhat Disapprove: 11% (13% U.S. born/9% foreign born)
o Strongly Disapprove: 20% (15% U.S. born/24% foreign born)
- Do you approve/disapprove of the job Congress is doing?
o Strongly Approve: 5% (7% U.S. born/4% foreign born)
o Somewhat Approve: 27% (28% U.S. born/25% foreign born)
o Somewhat Disapprove: 20% (22% U.S. born/18% foreign born)
o Strongly Disapprove: 41% (34% U.S. born/47% foreign born)
- Thinking ahead to the November 2012 Presidential election, would you say you are more likely to vote for Democrat Barack Obama, or for the Republican challenger?
o Certain to vote for Obama: 38% (37% U.S. born/40% foreign born)
o Vote for Obama but could change mind: 16% (15% U.S. born/16% foreign born)
o Undecided but leaning towards Obama: 8% (10% U.S. born/6% foreign born)
o Undecided: 11% (13% U.S. born/9% foreign born)
o Undecided but leaning towards Republican: 6% (7% U.S. born/4% foreign born)
o Vote Republican but could change mind: 9% (7% U.S. born/10% foreign born)
o Certain to vote Republican: 10% (9% U.S. born/11% foreign born)
- Combined Presidential vote from Q4 above?
o Combined vote for Obama: 62% (62% U.S. born/61% foreign born)
o Undecided: 14% (15% U.S. born/13% foreign born)
o Combined vote for Republican: 25% (23% U.S. born/26% foreign born)
- Would you say the Democratic party is currently doing a good job of reaching out to Hispanics, that they don’t care too much about Hispanics, or they are being hostile towards Hispanics?
o Good Job: 43% (42% U.S. born/44% foreign born)
o Don’t care too much: 37% (34% U.S. born/39% foreign born)
o Being Hostile: 11% (14% U.S. born/8% foreign born)
o Don’t know: 7% (7% U.S. born/7% foreign born)
o Refused: 2% (3% U.S. born/2% foreign born)
- Would you say the Republican party is currently doing a good job of reaching out to Hispanics, that they don’t care too much about Hispanics, or they are being hostile towards Hispanics?
o Good Job: 18% (18% U.S. born/18% foreign born)
o Don’t care too much: 45% (46% U.S. born/42% foreign born)
o Being Hostile: 27% (25% U.S. born/29% foreign born)
o Don’t know: 7% (6% U.S. born/9% foreign born)
o Refused: 3% (5% U.S. born/2% foreign born)
- Thinking ahead to the November 2012 presidential election, how enthusiastic are you about voting in the election next year?
o Very enthusiastic: 50% (45% U.S. born/56% foreign born)
o Somewhat enthusiastic: 26% (27% U.S. born/25% foreign born)
o Not too enthusiastic: 14% (18% U.S. born/11% foreign born)
o Not at all enthusiastic: 7% (8% U.S. born/7% foreign born)
o Don’t know: 1% (1% U.S. born/1% foreign born)
o Refused: 1% (1% U.S. born/0% foreign born)
Methodology
Latino Decisions surveyed 500 registered voters between July 27th and August 9th in 21 states with the largest Hispanic populations, comprising 94% percent of the US Hispanic electorate. Voters were selected randomly from the registered voter lists and households were identified for contact using the Census Bureau Hispanic surname list, and merged with third party data to secure telephone numbers. Results were weighted to account for minor deviations from known population characteristics. The margin of error is +/- 4.38% on the full sample.
Voter registration status and Hispanic identification were verified upon contact with respondents, who confirmed if they are registered to vote and of Hispanic/Latino descent. Census Bureau reports suggest approximately 90% of all Latinos in the U.S. have a Spanish-surname. In identifying citizens registered to vote, the registered voter list is far superior to either a simple RDD or household list of Spanish-surname households because of non-citizenship, low rates of voter registration among Latinos, and well-documented propensity of all survey respondents, regardless of ethnicity, to over-report registration status.
Surveying was conducted by fully bilingual interviewers. Respondents were greeted in both languages, and surveys were conducted in either English or Spanish, at the discretion of the respondent. Up to five callbacks are scheduled for each record. The survey instrument was created by Dr. Matt Barreto and Dr. Gary Segura in consultation with impreMedia and translated into Spanish. The survey was administered under the direction of Pacific Market Research, in Renton, Washington, and performed using a Computer-Assisted-Telephone-Interviewing (CATI) protocols. CATI programming is performed by Pacific Market Research. Average interview length was 11.43 minutes.