Latinos Heavily Favored Obama

Almost all news sources are reporting that Latinos not only overwhelmingly tunred out to vote, but they heavily favored Obama. In 2006, Latinos said, "Today we march, tomorrow we vote," and really that is what they did this election year. They especially made a difference in swing states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Flroida, and North Carolina. In Colorado, for example, in 2004 Latinos accounted for about 8 percent of total turnout in Colorado and this year they accounted for 17 percent. The New York Times adds:

In a year when turnout among many groups surged nationwide, the number of Latinos who went to the polls increased by nearly 25 percent over 2004, with sharp rises among naturalized immigrants and young, first-time voters, according to a study by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Hispanic support for the Democratic nominee increased by 14 points over all compared with 2004, the biggest shift toward the Democrats by any voter group.

Nationwide, Hispanics voted 67 percent for Mr. Obama and 31 percent for Senator John McCain, according to Edison/Mitofsky exit polls. In 2004, Senator John Kerry won 53 percent, while 44 percent of Hispanics voted for President Bush, a record for Latino support for a Republican presidential nominee.

The approximately 10 million Latinos who went to the polls this year were 9 percent of the total of voters, up one percentage point from 2004. Their share of the electorate did not increase more substantially because turnout was high across most voting groups.

What are the reasons for this shift to the Democratic Party?
1) Although immigration is the hot button issue for most Latinos, this year they stated that the economy was the number one issue.
2) A sustained GOTV effort by the Obama campaign as well as local community organizations
3) Obama's campaign did not take the Latino vote for granted, and worked hard to register voters, and developed a strategy to court the vote
4) There was also a belief that Obama would urge comprehensive immigration reform