Poll: Obama maintains lead among Hispanic voters
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS | 7/30/12 5:00 PM EDT
New polling data out from the firm Latino Decisions today finds that President Obama still has a huge advantage among Hispanic voters around the country.
Across five swing states with large Hispanic populations -- Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia -- Obama leads Mitt Romney 63-27 among Hispanic voters. The gap is even more pronounced in a handful of those states: Obama's ahead by 52 points in Arizona, for example, and by 48 points in Colorado. It's a closer race in Florida, though, with Obama taking 53 percent of Hispanic voters compared with Romney's 37 percent.
The poll also looks at whether Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would give Romney a boost with Florida's Hispanic population -- and finds that he would provide a modest boost. About a third of Florida Hispanic voters said Rubio as the VP candidate would make them either much more likely or somewhat more likely to vote Republican, compared with 17 percent who said it would make them less likely to do so. Still, almost half of those surveyed -- 47 percent -- said putting Rubio on the GOP ticket would have no effect on their vote.
Romney has struggled throughout the general election to catch up to Obama among Hispanics; this poll is fresh proof that he still hasn't found a way to do so.