Tuesday, December 10, 2024

McCain revs up efforts to woo Hispanic voters

Most polls agree that Obama has the lead among Latino voters. However, McCain does not plan on giving up this important voting bloc and is instead revving up efforts to win Latino support.

McCain’s campaign hopes the senator from Arizona can make national inroads with Hispanics despite the harder lines against illegal immigration taken by many of his fellow Republicans.

So far, however, polls show that Obama has a large lead over McCain among Hispanics. Gallup pollsters put it at 59 percent for Obama to 29 percent for McCain in June, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

McCain allies cast Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, as still relatively unknown to the Hispanic community. They are counting on picking up support as Latinos take a closer look at Obama and his policies toward small businesses and Latin American trade.

Hessy Fernandez, a McCain campaign spokesman, conceded that the Republican brand “has suffered a lot of damage” among Hispanics because of the immigration debate, but added, “Latinos do vote for the candidate, not for the political party.”

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Arizona Republic