New Pew Hispanic Study on the Latino Electorate

According to the latest study by the Pew Hispanic Center, the economy, education, and health care are among the top issues of cocern for Latinos, with immigration dropping in importance.  Only three-in-ten (31%) Latinos rate immigration as an “extremely important” issue facing the incoming Obama administration, placing it sixth on a list of seven policy priorities that respondents were asked to assess in a nationwide survey of 1,007 Latino adults conducted from December 3 through December 10, 2008, by the Pew Hispanic Center. The report also examines the ways Latinos were involved in the 2008 election. According to the survey, almost three-fourths (74%) of Latinos say they were more interested in last year’s presidential election than in the 2004 election. Latino voters were more than twice as likely as voters in the general population to be first-time voters – 21% versus 8%. Among Latino voters ages 18-29, 47% were first-time voters.

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