Florida poll says Hispanics favor McCain not Obama

Hispanics favor McCain in Florida
By Luis F. Perez | South Florida Sun-Sentinel, September 21, 2008

Florida Hispanics are going against the national grain in the presidential race, two new surveys show.

A Sun Sentinel-Florida Times-Union poll found that 48 percent of likely Hispanic voters in Florida back Republican presidential candidate John McCain, compared with 41 percent who support Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Ten percent remain undecided.

In contrast, a Pew Hispanic Center poll released Thursday shows Hispanic registered voters across the country favor Obama over McCain, 66 percent to 23 percent. It found that half of all Latinos across the country think the situation has worsened for them over the past year. The reasons: a slumping economy and stepped-up immigration enforcement.

A third poll released Sept. 10 by NDN, a Democratic-leaning, Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found that from 74 percent to 86 percent of Hispanics in four swing states — New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida — said the immigration issue was an important factor in their voting decision. Immigration ranked as the eighth-most important issue for all Florida voters; the economy and jobs ranked number one, the newspaper poll shows.

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Simon Rosenberg, NDN president and founder, said the tenor of the debate has warped from an anti-immigrant argument into an anti-Hispanic climate that Latinos are responding to — even those historically not immersed in the immigration issue, like Cubans and Puerto Ricans.

Diana Osorio of Hollywood, a native of Colombia who came here 12 years ago, said immigration reform drove about 90 percent of her decision to support Obama.

Zulyn Guerrero, 22 and a native of Venezuela, said she became a citizen three months ago, in part, to vote in this election. "I came here thinking things would be a lot better," Guerrero said. "It turns out thing are getting worse."

She plans to vote for Obama.

Luis Parra, the owner of the Tienda Vieja Colombian Restaurant and Bakery in Hollywood, said he's a Democrat, but supports McCain. For him, the issue of immigration reform comes second to economic concerns.

Luis F. Perez can be reached at lfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4553.