Poll: Obama’s support erodes among Latinos
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President Obama continues to lose support among Latinos, a sign of the impact of the continuing furor over immigration reform, while the president’s support among whites and blacks has remained constant in recent months, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
The poll, carried out in English and Spanish, shows that support among Latinos fell from 69% to 57% from January through May. During the same time frame, support among whites remained at 41% while African American support for the nation’s first black president was at 91%.
Although a majority of Latinos say they continue to support Obama, the level of support tends to vary as the immigration-overhaul issue moves up and down in the public debate. For example, Obama in April said he doubted there was an appetite in the Senate to deal with immigration reform, leading to his low numbers by May.
Obama has recently upped his rhetoric in dealing with border issues, in part because of the new Arizona law that broadens police powers to ask illegal immigrants for documentation. The president has condemned the law and has ordered the Justice Department to monitor enforcement for possible civil rights violations.
But Obama has also stepped up the nation’s role in dealing with border security, pledging 1,200 National Guard troops and $500 million to be sent to border areas to deal with drug- and people-smuggling.
Obama has repeatedly linked border security with an overhaul of immigration law to deal with an estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the United States.
“While Obama has tried to show strong moral support for the idea of comprehensive immigration reform, his reluctance to expend any real political capital to make it happen may be taking a toll on his approval rating in the Hispanic community,” according to the poll.
The poll results are based on telephone interviews with random samples of adults conducted from Jan. 2 to May 31. About 12,000 whites are sampled each month; about 1,000 Latinos and about 950 blacks. The margin of error is plus or minus one percentage point for whites and plus or minus 4 percentage points for Latinos and blacks.
The steepest decline was among Latinos whose interviews were conducted in Spanish. Obama’s approval is down 21 points since January among Latinos speaking Spanish in the interview, while down just 5 points among those answering in English, according to the poll.
-- Michael Muskal
