Latino voters poised to be ‘deciding factor’ in Colorado Senate race

In a Colorado Senate race that’s key in determining whether Democrats can hold on to their Senate majority, Latino voters are expected to play a major role.

Colorado is one of the nine states with toss-up Senate races. But the Pew Research Center finds that what makes Colorado different is that Latinos in the state make up 14 percent of eligible voters. Meanwhile, Latinos make up 5 percent or less of eligible voters in the other states with toss-up Senate races.

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That’s good news for Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who holds a substantial lead among Latino voters. A poll conducted by Latino Decisions at the request of the National Council of La Raza Action Fund shows Udall is leading among Latino voters with 55 percent of the vote, compared to his Republican challenger Cory Gardner who takes 14 percent of the vote. Another 31 percent are undecided.

This comes at a time when a new CNN/ORC poll shows Udall is currently trailing behind Gardner by four points.

According to Latino Decisions, the Latino electorate was “a decisive factor” in President Barack Obama’s victory in Colorado in 2012. The same is expected to happen in this election, as nearly 90 percent of registered Latino voters in Colorado indicated they will vote in the November 4 election.

“Latinos are poised to once again be a deciding factor in Colorado’s tight race for Senate where both candidates are virtually tied,” Matthew McClellan, executive director of the NCLR Action Fund, said in a statement. “The window of opportunity to engage this electorate is rapidly closing as we draw closer to Election Day. If either candidate wants to boost their numbers with Latinos, then they will need to get serious about the issues that matter most to this community.”

According to the Latino Decisions poll, Latino voters in Colorado are most concerned about economic issues, with 24 percent of them saying creating more jobs and fixing the economy are their top priorities. Coming in second is immigration, with 23 percent of Latino voters in Colorado saying this is the most important issue for them.

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But when it comes to Latino outreach in Colorado, the poll shows both parties have work to do. It found that the majority of Latino voters in Colorado do not think either party is doing a good job of reaching out to Latino voters.

An estimated 41 percent of Latino voters in Colorado think the Democratic Party is doing a good job on Latino outreach. Another 47 percent think the party takes Latino voters for granted or doesn’t care too much about them.

Republicans are doing worse. Only 15 percent of Latino voters in Colorado think the Republican Party is doing a good job on Latino outreach. And 60 percent think the GOP takes Latino voters for granted or doesn’t care too much about them.

“It’s clear that there is more work to be done for both parties,” McClellan stated. “But in order to make sure that they take our community seriously, we need to disprove this myth that Latinos don’t vote during the midterms and come out in full force to support candidates who support the Latino community.”

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