Contrary to a widespread assumption, the percentage of Hispanics who voted in the 2010 mid-term election varied little from the percentage of Hispanics who voted in previous mid-term elections. All the predictions of Hispanics voting to punish those who stood against immigration reform did not materialize. Nor did Hispanics stay home.
The information comes from a study available at the Center for Immigration Studies website at: http://cis.org/hispanic-vote-2010-no-trend.
The study has many interesting findings. Among them:
The 31.2 percent of Hispanic citizens who voted in 2010 is very similar to the 32.2 percent who voted in the 2006 mid-term election and the 31.2 percent who voted in the 2002 mid-term election.
Hispanics are a much smaller share of voters than they are of the general population. In November 2010, Hispanics were 16.3 percent of the total U.S. population, 14.1 percent of the adult population, 10.1 percent of the adult citizen population, and 6.9 percent of those who voted.
Polling of Hispanics indicates that immigration is not one of their top issues. Like other voters, education, jobs, healthcare, and the federal deficit all rank above immigration in importance.
CNN’s national exit polls showed that in 2010, 60 percent of Hispanics voted for Democrats and 38 percent voted for Republicans. This compares to 69 percent and 30 percent in the last mid-term election in 2006. If the failure to address immigration played a role in Hispanic voting, it seems to have helped Republicans.
However, the increase in the Republican share of the Hispanic vote in 2010 is almost certainly related to general voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the Democrats, and it parallels gains that Republicans made among many demographic groups.
The Americano /Agencies
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