Polls: Historically high Latino turnout expected this election season

According to a new poll, more Latinos than in 2008 are expected to exercise their votes in November, which surely brings good news to team Obama.

ImpreMedia- Latino Decisions poll of registered Hispanic voters shows that 45 percent of them say they are more excited about the elections than they were in 2008 and in the last two months, this number has gone up by almost 8 percent. A total of 87 percent of the respondents said they are likely to show up at the national polling sites Nov. 6, while 10 percent have already taken advantage of the early voting opportunity in their states.

If the voters actually show in such large numbers as indicated by the polls, it will set a record level for the Hispanic turnout. Hispanics make up the fastest growing sectors in United States with 500,000 Latinos becoming eligible for exercising their voting rights each month. What makes this good news for Obama is the fact that a large number of Latino voters helped him win the 2008 elections and even before that they have shown an overwhelmingly high tendency to vote for the Democratic Party than the Republicans.

“The polls show that this year we can anticipate record participation among Latino voters,” Monica Lozano, the head of impreMedia, said Monday in a statement. “It looks like the ‘sleeping giant’ has woken up.” However, Lozano added that the Latinos are also “realistic about what it will take to make real progress on the issues they care about, especially given the lack of cooperation among our elected representatives in Congress.”

The strong numbers could add a dozen more percentage points for Obama, especially in the swing states like Florida and Colorado that will eventually decide the result of the elections, notes a widely watched pollster, Nate Silver. Last week, Obama admitted in an interview that the Latinos can serve to be the main reason for his re-election and Romney’s defeat.

“Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term; a big reason … is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community,” Obama said.

However, according to a report released last week by NALEO, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, restrictive state voting laws are likely to affect around 219,000 the Hispanic voters negatively. A separate report also notes that a Republican state official was caught on tape suggesting that such policies with be enacted especially to help, Republican presidential nominee win the elections.