Posted June 7, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Federal Immigration Policy

Obama’s support among Latino voters dropped 12% since the beginning of the year, from 69% to 57%. That is the president’s biggest loss of support in that period from any major demographic group. A new Gallup Poll blames disenchantment with Obama’s lack of leadership on pressing for immigration reform as the main reason for the fall.

Here is Gallup’s analysis of the data:

After Obama’s State of the Union speech in January, several leading Hispanics and Hispanic groups criticized Obama for not devoting more attention to immigration reform in the speech—and, more specifically, for not fulfilling his campaign promise of making comprehensive immigration reform a top priority. As one Hispanic activist wrote at the time, “For those looking for a strong statement in support of comprehensive immigration reform, the speech was a big disappointment.” Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez was also publicly critical of Obama after the speech.

Gallup Daily tracking showed Obama’s approval rating among Hispanics falling nearly 10 percentage points in the week after his State of the Union address compared to the week prior to the speech. And Obama’s ratings remained subdued in February, resulting in the five-point drop in Hispanics’ approval between the two months.

Obama also drew considerable ire from Hispanic groups—as well as from New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez—after making statements at the end of April in which he essentially removed comprehensive immigration reform from his legislative agenda for 2010, citing political obstacles.

Again, there appeared to be an almost immediate impact: Obama’s approval rating from Hispanics dropped seven points in the week after he made the statements, compared with the week prior to those statements. Publicity about Arizona’s passage of a controversial immigration law around the same time may have only intensified Hispanics’ desire to see quick action on comprehensive national reform legislation, thus keeping their approval rating of Obama below 60% throughout May.

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