Hispanic Approval of Obama Increased This Month

In light of Obama's new push on immigration legislation, earlier this month I blogged on Hispanic support of the President.

It appeared there had been a drop in his approval ratings in May and June, possibly as a result of his reaction to the Arizona immigration law. I speculated if his stepped up commitment to immigration reform over the last month would find favor with Hispanics.

It seems Obama's increased attention to immigration over the last month may have paid off. While overall support for the President has dropped, Hispanic support of the President has seen a slight bump from 59 to 63%. For the first time in three months Obama is regaining not losing Hispanic supporters.

We'll have Obama's full approval numbers out tomorrow.

Does Hispanic Support for Obama still remain Strong?

As Obama asks Congress to pass an immigration bill, many in the news have been speculating Hispanics’ views on Obama. Obama received tremendous support from Hispanics in his run for president (according to a Pew study, Hispanics favored Obama 67: 31 over McCain), but does the support remain?

In light of the Arizona immigration law and Obama’s lack of a hard-line response, Hispanic support seems to have waned over the last two months.

Here are our findings:
Our April poll was taken just before the announcement of the Arizona immigration law. Therefore, May’s poll is most reflective of Hispanic opinion of Obama following the passage of the law and his reaction.

The magnitude of the change in Hispanic voter’s opinions may not be as drastic as it seems. Hispanic voters only make up about 10% of national voters, as result there is a +/- 9.8 to 12.2% margin of error on their opinion, in comparison to the +/- 3 to 3.8% margin for the entire poll (depending on the sample size for the particular month).

Still, there was undoubtedly a drop in their view of Obama in May and into June, maybe to a new record low. Even with the drop, Obama still has the overwhelming support of Hispanic voters, especially in comparison to the overall population. We can’t say for sure but it seems that many Hispanic voters were unhappy with how Obama reacted to the new law, others may still remain hopeful that the President will end up on the right side of the immigration debate.

We’ll see if his new immigration plan will find favor with the Hispanic voter in our upcoming national poll.