Election eve poll: Top issue for Latino voters is immigration

Election day is finally here, and a new poll released Tuesday shows immigration is the number one issue that drove Latinos to the polls this year.

Ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, Latino Decisions surveyed nearly 5,000 Latino voters from key states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Georgia.

The results of the “election eve” poll, which was sponsored by various groups that support immigration reform, show that immigration continues to be the top issue for Latino voters. One reason for this is because 58 percent of Latino voters nationwide know an undocumented immigrant.

According to the poll, 67 percent of Latino voters nationwide said immigration was either the most important issue in their decision to vote and their candidate preference or “one of the important issues” for them. Another 19 percent said immigration was “somewhat important” and only 9 percent said immigration was “not really important” in their decision to vote.

SEE ALSO: Election forecast: Support for Dems among Latinos won’t be as strong

Other issues that Latino voters identified as important were jobs and the economy, education, health care and foreign affairs.

“The priority of the Latino community is still the issue of immigration,” Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, told VOXXI.

He added that immigration reform “is not done yet” and that Latino voters will continue to evaluate candidates based on their position on immigration, an issue that has dragged on in Congress.

Since the culmination of the 2012 elections, members in Congress have been trying to pass immigration reform legislation. The Senate approved it’s own immigration reform bill in June 2013 but the bill stalled in the House. Now, in the absence of immigration reform, President Barack Obama is getting ready to issue immigration executive orders to extend deportation relief to some undocumented immigrants.

Daniel Garza, executive director of the LIBRE Initiative, said that while immigration is the top issue driving Latinos to the polls this year, it’s also the issue that has many Latinos feeling disillusioned about voting. He explained that many Latinos feel disappointed over Congress’ inability to pass an immigration reform bill and Obama’s decision to delay taking executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections.

“I think that has turned off a lot of people,” Garza said.

But nonetheless, Garza said he expects a large number of Latinos will turn out to vote on Tuesday. He said that’s in part because of the efforts by Latino organizations to turnout the Latino vote and the efforts by candidates from both sides of the aisle to engage Latino voters.

“I think you’re going to see a better turnout than in 2010. That’s my prediction,” Garza told VOXXI.

SEE ALSO: Midterm elections: a time for choosing, not sitting out

Cristobal Alex, president of the Latino Victory Project, had a similar prediction. He told VOXXI that his group had been seeing a lot of Latinos voting early, especially in states like Colorado and Florida.

“I think we’re going to see a pretty strong uptick in Latino voter turnout,” Alex said. “I predict we’re going to get at least 1 million additional Latino voters than we did in the last midterm cycle.”

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) has projected 7.8 million Latinos will turn out to vote this year, an increase of 1.2 million from the 2010 midterm elections.

Monterroso said his group was working tirelessly on Tuesday to ensure that increase does happen. He said volunteers were up early Tuesday morning putting up door hangers at the houses of Latino voters to remind them to go out to vote. They were also canvassing neighborhoods and phone banking.

“We are committed to work until 15 minutes before the polls close to ensure voters get out to vote,” he said.

At the same time, Monterroso said there’s still a lot of work to do to ensure more Latinos turn out to vote in future elections. “I think 2014 is not the end, it’s just the beginning to get ready for 2016,” he said.

Monterroso also acknowledged that Latino voter outreach efforts have improved. For example, he said this year there were more advertisements in Spanish media and some candidates also hosted Spanish-language debates.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said. “But I think candidates are not yet talking with us, they’re talking at us. That’s the reason I say that this is the beginning for 2016 and not the end.”

SEE ALSO: Puerto Rican voters could determine results of Florida’s elections