Gains made by Republicans in the United States among Hispanic voters in two previous presidential races have eroded, with Hispanics returning to earlier levels of strong preference for the Democratic Party, a new poll has found.
The survey, released here Friday by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, pointed to "a number of potentially worrisome early signs" for the Republicans among Hispanic voters in the 2008 presidential race.
Immigration has become a more important issue for Hispanics than it was in 2004, the poll showed, and far more registered Latino voters now say the Democrats are doing better job on illegal immigration than the Republicans.
The number of Hispanics eligible to vote is relatively small, at 18.2 million, but the survey suggests that Latino voters could become a strategic swing vote in several states including Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Nevada that U.S. President George W. Bush carried by narrow margins in 2004.
The Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization that does not take positions on political issues.
According to the survey, 57 percent of registered Hispanic voters now say they are Democrats or favor the Democratic Party, while 23 percent say they align with the Republicans, yielding a gap of 34 percentage points between the parties.
As recently as July 2006, that gap was down to 21 points, as Latino support for the Democrats dipped to 49 percent.
The survey was conducted by telephone from Oct. 3 through Nov. 9 among 2,003 people who said they were of Hispanic or Latino origin or descent.
Source: Xinhua
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