As critics and supporters alike attack President Obama for his obviously political decision to halt executive action on immigration until after the November midterm elections, it’s worth keeping in mind that in nearly every state with a competitive U.S. Senate race, the Hispanic vote is very, very small, according to the Pew Research Center.
From the report:
In states where registration statistics are available showing how many Latinos are registered to vote, an even smaller share is Latino. Just 1.9% of North Carolina registered voters and 1.7% of Georgia registered voters are Latino.
Latinos also make up larger shares of each state’s total population than they do among eligible voters, reflecting their relative youth and greater number of immigrants who are not U.S. citizens.
It’s widely believed that Obama decided to lay off efforts to restructure the nation’s immigration system because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., leaned on the president to back away from the issue, arguing that executive action would endanger vulnerable red-state Democrats. And this isn’t a bad idea from a politically strategic standpoint. All efforts to introduce so-called amnesty for illegal immigrants in the U.S. have so far proven extremely unpopular with American voters.
However, even though the Latino voting demographic in states that feature vulnerable Democratic lawmakers is relatively small, it’s growing and it’s growing fast. Expect the president and his allies to address the issue very soon after November.
