Source: impreMedia-Latino Decisions Tracking Poll, June 9, 2011
The results of a nationwide poll of Latino voters released last week found immigration to be a personal issue for many. Among other things, out of a sample of 500 registered voters in 21 states, 53 percent said they knew someone who is undocumented, and one-fourth said they knew a person or family who has faced immigrant detention or deportation.
Today, the polling firm Latino Decisions and impreMedia, parent company of the Spanish-language Los Angeles newspaper La Opinión, announced more detailed results from their most recent joint tracking poll.
These provided a sampling of Latino voters’ opinions of President Obama, in particular their opinions of his handling of immigration issues.
From a summary of the results, some highlights:
48% approve of Obama’s handling of immigration issue; 38% disapprove
48% say Democrats are doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics; 31% say Democrats don’t care too much; 7% say Dems are being hostile
12% say Republicans are doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics; 49% say GOP doesn’t care too much; 23% say GOP is being hostile
46% think the lack of immigration reform since ’08 is understandable given all the issues facing the country; 42% say Obama should have pushed harder to pass reform
50% think immigration reform has not passed because Republicans are blocking passage; 33% think it has not passed because Obama did not push hard enough
51% think the President’s recent outreach on immigration is a serious attempt to pass reform; 41% think the President is just saying what Latinos want to hear because the election is approaching
55% say Republican calls for increased border security is an excuse to block immigration reform; 30% think increasing border security is a legitimate concern
Respondents were also asked how they plan to vote in 2012. Almost half, 49 percent, said they were certain they would vote for Obama; 17 percent said they were leaning toward Obama. Ten percent said they would certainly vote Republican, and 12 percent said they were leaning toward voting for a Republican candidate. Twelve percent reported being undecided.
Latino Decisions and impreMedia have been working together to produce a series of six polls exploring the attitudes of Latino voters. This is the third in the series. The most recent poll measured the importance of immigration among Latino voters as a federal policy issue.
