Latino voters helped Colorado stay blue -- more so than in any other battleground state


One goal of the ImpreMedia-Latino Decision poll, which included 5,600 Latino voters, was also to go more in-depth into why Latino voters overwhelmingly support Obama, and Kupfer says there were some interesting results for Colorado.

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Sam Levin
A sign outside of the Denver debate in October.
The report says 75 percent of Latino voters in Colorado were contacted by the Democratic Party while 39 percent were contacted by the Republican Party -- which ultimately makes a big difference, she says.

"That just tells me that the Democrats are doing a pretty good job in their outreach," she says.

Kupfer also finds that immigration reform and Obama's announcement in June to stop the deportation of immigrant youth played a vital role in Latino support for the president.

Half of Colorado Latino voters said that fixing the economy and creating more jobs was the number one issue for the Latino community, followed by 34 percent who said the same about immigration reform and the DREAM Act.

Eva Longoria, Women's vote.jpeg
Sam Levin
Eva Longoria, who campaigned in Colorado for Obama, pushing the women's vote and the Latino vote.
Looking forward, Kupfer says, it's clear that the Latino vote will play an important role in Colorado swinging more blue than red in future elections.

(Only 24 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to vote Republican if the party "took a leadership role in supporting comprehensive immigration reform, with an eventual pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and Republicans worked to ensure it would pass.")

"I would look to New Mexico or Nevada to think about where Colorado is going," she says, noting that Latino populations in those states have increasingly turned them more Democratic.

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Sam Levin
Hispanic Women for Mitt sign at final Mitt Romney rally in Colorado.
While there are different factors in play in Colorado -- such as more highly educated youth moving to the state and supporting Obama -- it's clear that Hispanic voters could be key in making the state less of a swing state and more left-leaning in the future.

"I can't say it's strictly about Latinos, but they fit very easily into that model of turning Colorado blue," she says.

Continue for the full Colorado report.

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