GOP Makes Big Gains Among Hispanics

Hispanic Support Jumps 17 Points in Election

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, a leading voice on Latinos, today noted that the final exit polls on Election Day show that the GOP did better with Latino voters than many believed.  

Final exit polls show that Latinos favored Democrats over Republicans in House races by a 60 to 38 percent margin in the midterm elections, compared to a 68 to 29 margin in 2008.  This represents a 9 percent increase in Latino support for Republicans and an overall improvement of 17 points from the margin of difference House Democrats enjoyed in the previous election.

"Contrary to the post-election liberal spin that Democrats dominated the Latino vote, the final numbers show that the GOP made significant gains with Latinos," said Alfonso Aguilar, Executive Director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.

In many senate and gubernatorial races the numbers were also encouraging for Republicans.  Arizona Senate candidate John McCain, who was accused of backtracking on immigration, received 44 percent of the Latino vote, and in Florida, Senate candidate Marco Rubio received 45 percent.  Republican Gubernatorial candidates Rick Scott (FL) and Rick Perry (TX) won 50 and 35 percent of the Latino vote respectively.

"Sharron Angle's rhetoric on immigration and the ad she ran during the last week of the campaign depicting immigrants as criminals sealed her fate with Latino voters," said Mr. Aguilar.

Even in races where Democrats did win by a wide margin, Republican performance improved from the past.  In California, for example, Republican candidate Carly Fiorina received 31 percent of the Latino vote, 9 percent more than the last two Republican opponents of Democrat Barbara Boxer, and Boxer's share of the Latino vote went down from 72 percent in 1998 and 73 percent in 2004 to 66 percent in 2010.  This means that Boxer's winning margin over Republican opponents among Latino voters has shrunk from 49-50 percent in the past to 35 percent today.

"Since Obama broke his promise to deal with immigration during the first year of his administration, this issue, which is so important to Latinos, was essentially off the table in this election.  Latino voters, who are socially conservative as well as entrepreneurial and pro-business, responded favorably to the Republican message."

"As we move towards the 2012 elections, we need to propose something constructive on immigration, something that goes beyond enforcement only measures, if they don't want immigration to become a wedge issue that can alienate Latino voters who we need to win back the White House."

The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles promotes conservative values and ideals within the Latino community and works to integrate Latinos into fuller and more active participation and leadership in the conservative movement. It is an initiative of The American Principles Project, a 501(c)(3) organization.

SOURCE Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles