Tag: Hispanic Voters

Eighty-one percent of Latino voters in Colorado voted for Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. Split the Latino vote down the middle between Bennet and Republican Ken Buck and Buck wins easily. Even if Buck had only received 30 percent of the Latino vote, he would have won the election. As it was, Buck barely out-polled gubernatorial candidate and anti-immigration hardliner Tom Tancredo among Hispanics.

On the heels of a poll that shows Latino voter support for the Republican Party dropping into single digits, GOP senators are preparing to launch a new round of attacks on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Roll Call reports. Only 8 percent of Latino voters view the Republican Party favorably, compared with 86 percent who view it unfavorably, according to a nonpartisan Research 2000 poll released Monday by Daily Kos. That's down from the already low esteem Latino voters had for Republicans before the Sottomayor nomination, The Plum Line's Greg Sarget points out. In May, the GOP was viewed favorably by 11 percent of Latino voters and unfavorably by 79 percent.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter "may have some fence-mending to do" with Hispanic voters after choosing Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, rather than picking another Hispanic politician, according to a survey released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling (PPP). Ritter saw his support among Hispanics tumble by 28 points since mid-December, when Salazar opened up the Senate vacancy by accepting a nod to be secretary of the interior.

It looks like Colorado's Ken Salazar might not be the highest-ranking Hispanic member of the Obama Cabinet after all. The secretary of the interior nominee, who plans to step down from the Senate if confirmed later this month, was one of three Hispanics tapped for a Cabinet post -- along with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at Commerce and Rep. Hilda Solis of California at Labor -- until Richardson withdrew his name from consideration on Sunday because of an ongoing federal "pay-for-play" probe involving a state contractor. A veteran California congressman, Xavier Becerra, tops the list of potential replacements for Richardson, the San Antonio Express-News reports Wednesday.

Barack Obama is "firmly ahead" in the hard-fought contest for Colorado's nine electoral votes, polling 53 percent to John McCain's 45 percent, according to a Politico/Insider Advantage poll released Tuesday night. Obama and McCain, however, are statistically tied in bellwether Jefferson County — unchanged since two weeks ago — the poll found.