WASHINGTON — A record 14.7 million Latino voters sat out the 2010 midterm elections, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center report that shows the nation’s fastest-growing minorities are largely failing to exercise their right to vote.
Along with Asian voters, who appear similarly disengaged, the absence of so many Latino voters at the polls means the political influence of these minority groups will lag behind their demographic strength by years, if not decades.
About 31 percent of eligible Latino and Asian voters cast ballots in the 2010 congressional elections, compared with 49 percent of eligible white voters and 44 percent of eligible blacks, according to the Pew report. Asians make up a much smaller portion of the electorate than Latinos, though both groups are exploding in size.
While the number of Latino voters increased from 5.6 million in the 2006 election to 6.6 million in 2010, the number of Latinos eligible to vote grew much faster, from 17.3 million to 21.3 million, said Mark Lopez, associate director of the Pew Center and author of the new report. As a result, the gap between potential and actual Latino voters was 3.1 million larger in 2010.
The snapshot of minority voting comes on the heels of a poll showing support for President Barack Obama among Latinos down by more than 25 percentage points compared with the start of his administration — cause for serious concern among Democrats.
Obama needs Latinos to show up in force for him in 2012, as they did in 2008, political analysts say. But the administration has disappointed many Latinos by failing to win immigration reform, while simultaneously increasing deportations among the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
“You can’t say during a campaign, ‘A child should not be taken from her mother’s arms’ and ‘Children should not come home to find their parents have been taken away by immigration officials,’ and then conduct one of the most massive deportations of immigrants in the history of the country,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who blamed Obama’s immigration stance for the lack of turnout among Latinos.
The administration is currently on track to deport more undocumented immigrants than any previous administration — Republican or Democratic — in history.
While several Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, won re-election with strong Latino support, GOP candidates fared better than expected among Latino voters. That was especially true of Latino GOP candidates.
“During the November 2010 midterm elections, the Republican Party had historic levels of Hispanic support,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “In fact, exit polls showed that 38 percent of Hispanic voters cast ballots for House Republican candidates. This is more than in 2008 and 2006 . . . all five Hispanics elected to Congress in 2010 were Republicans.”
The Pew report on minority voting, which was released Tuesday, did not examine the political factors that affect turnout but said the youthfulness of the Latino electorate might partly explain the phenomenon. Voters under 29 typically do not show up to vote as reliably as older voters.
