Election Results 2014: Latino Voters Still Prefer Democrat Congressional Candidates During Midterm Elections
The midterm elections have shown Latinos maintained their support for the Democratic Party, but exit polling have identified the GOP attracting voters.
Based on exiting polling in select states, Pew Research Center found Latinos "generally" voted for the Democratic candidate during the latest midterm elections. In some states, however, Latinos voted in favorable numbers for the Republican candidate.
In Texas, Republican incumbent John Cornyn maintained his U.S. Senate seat against Democratic candidate David Alameel. According to the exit polling data, the Latino vote was nearly split between the two candidates with Cornyn receiving 48 percent to 47 percent for Alameel. In Georgia's Senate race, Democrat Michelle Nunn received a comfortable percentage of the Latino vote based on exit polling. Nunn received 57 percent, and Republican David Perdue attracted 42 percent.
Latinas were more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate than Latino males. Exit polling showed 66 percent of Latinas voting for the Democratic congressional candidate, higher than the 32 percent of Latinas voting Republican. Latino males also favored Democrats, but the voting spread was narrower compared to Latinas. With Latino males, 57 percent voted for the Democratic congressional candidate, while 41 percent preferred the Republican candidate.
Among different age groups, Democrats was also the preferred choice. Voters in the 18- to 29-year-old age group, also recognized as millennials, voted in heavy numbers for Democrats with 68 percent to 28 percent for Republicans.
The Latinos' preference of the Democratic congressional candidate maintained in the 60s with the 45 through 64 age group and 65 and older population. Among the voters between 45 and 64 years old, 62 percent voted Democratic, while 37 percent went Republican. The 65 and older group voted at a similar rate with 64 percent for Democrats and 34 percent for Republicans.
The 30- to 44-year-old group had a slightly narrower spread than the other voting groups as 56 percent favored Democrats, but 42 percent supported the GOP candidate.
The Latinos participating in the exit poll identified the economy as their most important issue with 49 percent. Health care ranked as their second important issue followed by illegal immigration, with 24 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The top three important issues were similar to overall U.S. voters. The economy was the top priority with overall voters with 45 percent, and health care and illegal immigration followed with 25 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
"The national exit poll also asked voters whether most illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be offered legal status or be deported. Three-in-four [74 percent] Latino voters supported offering legal status, while 21 [percent] said illegal immigrants should be deported," noted the Pew Research Center reported by Jens Manuel Krogstad and Mark Hugo Lopez.
The exit poll data was conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool.
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