As Congress breaks and the 2010 campaigns heat up, political observers are wondering how the immigration debate in Washington, DC and across the country will impact the mid-term elections. Tracking polling by Latino Decisions is showing small but clear movement toward the Democrats, in the wake of a September debate on the DREAM Act in the Senate. However, a number of Latinos still feel that the Democratic Party has taken a hands-off approach to the issue, with potentially big implications for dozens of battleground races across the nation.
On a press conference call held on October 4, experts on Latino voter political engagement and immigration reform discussed the findings of the Latino Decisions polling and efforts by organizations such as Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign to turn out immigrant and Latino voters in November.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice and moderator of the call, “The immigration debate and both parties’ handling of the issue is clearly having a major effect on Latino mobilization efforts. The million dollar question for 2010 will be whether Latinos’ recent uptick in enthusiasm for Democrats and continued view of Republicans as anti-immigrant supersedes traditionally low levels of Latino turnout in mid-term elections, and lingering frustration from Latino voters that immigration reform hasn’t been more of a priority in Congress.”
Ben Monterroso, Executive Director of Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign, discussed efforts to mobilize Latino voters, including “low-propensity” voters in states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas. “Our community wants results on immigration reform. The Latino community knows that our vote is our voice – and if we don’t exercise our vote and hold elected officials accountable, some politicians will continue to attack our community.”
Also on the October 4th, call, Matt Barreto of polling firm Latino Decisions said, “Latino voters are very interested in seeing immigration reform move forward and the level of Latino support for Democratic candidates is still below the self-identified percentage of Latinos who are Democrats. However, possibly because of the DREAM Act, Democrats are slowly recovering ground that they had lost – not to Republicans, but to unenthusiastic and undecided Latino voters.”
Barreto’s assessment comes as new polling released from Latino Decisions in twenty-one key states found that 72% of Latino voters think the Senate “should have passed” the DREAM Act as an amendment to
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