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Romney Struggling Among Latinos In Key Swing States

Florida’s 29 electoral votes will likely be the difference in the tight upcoming presidential election, meaning that Republican hopeful Mitt Romney has some serious ground to make up in the hearts of the key constituency of Latino voters before then.

Two new polls show Romney struggling to pick up Latino support in both the Sunshine State and in another swing state in Nevada.

President Barack Obama easily leads Romney, 78 percent to 17 percent among Latino voters, according to the latest survey from Latino Decisions, a political opinion research firm. In a breakdown of those numbers, 69 percent said they will definitely support the president, while nine percent say they are leaning that way. In Romney’s case, 15 percent said they would back him, with an additional two percent indicating they were leaning that way.

The race is closer in Florida, where conservative-leaning Cuban-Americans make up a plurality of Latino voters as opposed to Nevada, where voters are primarily Mexican-Americans who lean to the left. Sixty-one percent of Latino voters back Obama (56 percent say they are certain), while 31 percent back Romney. Twenty-seven percent say they are still uncertain.

The Latino Decisions polls were conducted for America’s Voice, a liberal pro-immigration reform group.

Romney didn’t exactly endear himself to Latino voters during a bitter GOP primary that saw him position himself further to the right on the controversial issue of immigration than even any of his political rivals.

The former Massachusetts governor has been trying to cast a softer image in maneuvering back closer to the center as of late, but it remains to be whether the damage he did this spring among Latinos is irreparable.

Both surveys showed the economy as the top issue, but immigration didn’t trail far behind. The results illustrated how the immigration issue is personal for many Latino voters. Sixty-nine percent in Nevada and 49 percent in Florida said they know someone who is undocumented.

It could all spell bad news for the Romney campaign. In 2008, Obama won Florida’s Latino voters 57 percent to 42 percent. Should he win the state’s Hispanic voters by the 25-point margin the Latino Decision poll suggests, it would be virtually impossible for Romney to pick up the state’s treasure trove of 29 electoral votes. Latinos’ share of the Florida electorate has increased from 10.7 percent in 2006 to 13.5 percent today.

 

Obama visited Nevada this week for the ninth time this year in the hopes of claiming its six electoral votes on Nov. 6, while Romney has made 16 campaign stops in the state over last two years, six since becoming the Republican nominee.

Latinos may help swing the state in favor of Obama once again; 15 percent of all eligible voters in the state are Latino, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. At the same time, only about 10 percent of registered voters in the state are Hispanic.

The polls were based on 400 registered Latino voters in each state and the margin of error is 4.9 percent. The surveys were conducted between Sept. 22-28, before the first presidential debate.

In other news, a new poll is out in Virginia that shows that Romney has closed the gap against Obama in the state after a strong debate, but still trails.

Public Policy Polling’s newest Virginia poll finds Obama leading Romney 50-47 in another key battleground state, down from the president’s 51-46 advantage three weeks ago.

According to the survey, Virginia voters think Romney won the debate by a 61-28 margin, including 71-17 with independents.

The presidential hopefuls will debate again when they face off in Hempstead, N.Y. on Oct. 16.

Vice-President Joe Biden and GOP vice presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, will square off in Danville, Kentucky this Thursday for their only debate.

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