While the GOP is attempting to repair the gender gap that has grown during the Republican primaries another important voting bloc is being targeted by both sides of the aisle. The Hispanic population is one of the nations fastest growing minorities representing around 16% of the US population. They also constitute an essential block of voters in “swing states” where the presidential nominees will have to win over a large portion of around 40% the Hispanic vote to win the up for grabs delegates in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Obstacles for both candidates
Both Mitt Romney and President Obama are upping their campaign efforts to reach out to the Hispanic vote. Recent polls have shown that Hispanic voters favor Obama by an almost 40 point difference. This may be due to Mitt Romney’s effort during the Republican primary to appear more conservative. Romney endorsed a controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law as a quote “model” for the nation, and stepped even further to the right that other nominees Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich on immigration legislation. While it is very unlikely that Obama will lose the Hispanic vote to Romney, this year is going to be much more challenging than the 2008 elections when the Hispanic vote was overwhelmingly Democratic. Latino votes were crucial to several swing state wins for President Obama, but this year’s election lacks the enthusiasm that helped drum up support in 2008. The latest presidential polls are already showing that this year is going to be tightly contested. Both candidates will need to court and win over the essential Hispanic vote if they want to come out on top in November.
