Millennials Make Up 44 Percent of Projected Eligible Latino Voters in 2016, Study Shows

A new study reveals that nearly half of the almost 30 million Hispanic citizens who will be eligible to vote in the upcoming 2016 election are millennials.

According to the latest Pew Research Center report on Hispanics, a record setting 27.3 million Hispanic voters are projected to be eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential race. Among voter-aged Latinos, 44 percent are millennials, which is a higher share of young voters compared to other races: black millennials makeup 35 percent of African Americans voters, Asian millennials are 30 percent and white millennials 27 percent.

"This goes to show Latino youth is a big part of the voter story," said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew's director of Hispanic research, reports NBC News.

The increase in Hispanic eligible voters is largely due to adult immigrants who have obtained legal status and chosen a pathway of citizenship. Pew projects that about 1.2 million Hispanic immigrants will have naturalized between 2012 and 2016. Also, Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland from the island increased to a record for this year's elections, states the report.

Although the number of Latino eligible voters in 2016 is 40 percent higher than in 2008, this does not necessarily mean that Hispanics will sway the presidential race. Rather, the study shows that Latinos do not typically have a high voter turnout rate. According to the report, nearly 50 percent of Hispanic eligible voters participated in the 2008 race when Barack Obama was first elected. Latino turnout then dropped to 48 percent in 2012 and to 27 percent in the 2014 midterm election. In comparison, 64 percent of white voters and 67 percent of black eligible voters cast a ballot in 2012.

The report also found that Hispanic millennials register to vote at lower rates than other millennials. Meanwhile, in 2012, just 37.8 percent of Latino millennials voted compared to "47.5 percent of white millennials and 55 percent of black millennials voted in 2012. Among Asian millennials, 37.3 percent of millennials voted," say the authors.

"This does present a number of challenges because of the relative size of the youth vote," Lopez said. However, "that doesn't mean they shouldn't be reached," he added.