Obama Sweeps the Latino Vote

In January when John McCain surged ahead due to his victory in the Florida primaries to become the likely presidential candidate of the Republican Party, very few doubted that Latino voters would help him enter the White House.

Today the roles have taken a radical turn, like in the results of polling that predict Barack Obama’s victory among Hispanics by an unprecedented margin (62% to 29% for John McCain, according to the most recent Gallup poll) to the extent that the democratic candidate could receive record levels of support among Latinos in key states like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida.

“Thanks to the Latino vote we can be sure of a victory in Colorado, Nevada and Florida,” said David Plouffe, director of the Democrats’ campaign, pointing out that the gradual support in favor of Obama among Latinos has been possible thanks to a word-of-mouth and door-to-door mobilization in both English and Spanish.

However if Obama’s gains have been possible due to the campaign’s drive in the Latino community, it is also true that John McCain’s inconsistencies have played an important role. Despite enjoying a honey-moon period with said community due in large part to his time as an Arizona senator and defender of immigration reform, his relationship with Latinos began to go from bad to worse after shifting ground on many of his stances over immigration policy.

“McCain forgot that his triumph in Florida was due in great part to the Hispanic vote and he allowed the political positions of the most conservative and anti-immigrant sector to be imposed on his campaign,” commented Arturo Vargas, executive director of National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

In spite of this, McCain’s daughter came out in defense of her father saying that “he has always worked hard for the Hispanic community.”

Obama’s gain in a decisive state such as Florida (that holds a total of 27 electoral votes) was confirmed yesterday by a poll from The Miami Herald. According to the survey, Obama has a 7-point lead over McCain thanks in large part to the support of independent voters.

The bad news didn’t stop there for McCain. Preliminary data from early voting carried out in 30 states throughout the country show that a large number of early-bird voters are registered as Democrats and chose Obama. As if that weren’t enough, a poll from ABC News and The Washington Post gave the democrat a 9-point advantage over his rival.

President George W. Bush and his wife already casted their votes by mail. “Naturally, he voted for McCain,” his spokesman explained, just in case there were any doubts.