Young Latino voters are registering as Democrats by a ratio of 4-1 according to a poll released yesterday. In addition, nearly three-fourths of them say President Obama is doing a “good job.
Despite these numbers, the survey found that more than half in this group neither identified as liberal or conservative.
“It’s an opportunity for anyone politically to bring them into the fold,” said Jorge Mursuli, president of Democracia USA, a non-partisan, voter-registration group which sponsored the poll.
The firm of Bendixen & Amandi, based in Miami, conducted the survey of 1,500 Latinos between the ages of 16-29 in mid-April. The margin of error was 2.5 percentage points.
A challenge for any party trying to capture this electorate is to find ways to engage them and get them to the polls.
In 2008, about 1.4 million young Latinos actually voted. That accounts for about 39% of the total eligible population of 3.5 million. An estimated one-half of 18-24 year old Latinos were not even registered to vote.
This segment of the US population overwhelmingly believes discrimination is a problem – 83%, and identify as bicultural even when born in the US.
They engage in the same types of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as their non-Hispanic peers and according to Mursuli, “have a real opportunity to make a difference if they become active and engaged.”
Miami Herald
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