Frank X. Moraga
Survey says: Catholics strongly favor Obama. Evangelicals divided. Rapidly growing Latino support for same-sex marriage
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
After a lively political debate this week, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney have been busy hitting key swing vote states, hammering home their messages during the final weeks of Campaign 2012.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that potential voters are not only divided by race, wealth and liberal vs. conservative positions, but by religion as well, especially within the Latino community.
Three-quarters (73 percent) of Latino Catholics and eight-in-ten (82 percent) religiously unaffiliated Latinos support President Barack Obama’s re-election. However, among Latino evangelical Protestants, who account for 16 percent of all Latino registered voters, just 50 percent prefer Obama, while 39 percent support his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, the center reported in its survey on Thursday.
These same patterns are reflected in Latinos’ partisan affiliations, the center reported.
Eight-in-ten (81 percent) religiously unaffiliated Latino voters (who make up 15 percent of the Latino electorate) and seven-in-ten (71 percent) Latino Catholics (57 percent of the Latino electorate) are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party. Among Latino evangelical voters, identification with the Democratic Party is lower — about half (52 percent) are Democrats or lean Democratic, while about a third (36 percent) are Republicans or lean toward the Republican Party.
Many Hispanic churchgoers say they are hearing from their clergy about various political issues and, to a lesser extent, about candidates and elections, the center reported.
Roughly half (54 percet) of Hispanics who attend religious services at least once a month say they have heard their clergy speak out about abortion, while 43 percent have heard from the pulpit about immigration, and 38 percent say their clergy have spoken out about homosexuality. A smaller proportion, roughly three-in-ten (29 percent), report hearing from their clergy about candidates and elections.
The new survey also finds rapidly growing support for same-sex marriage among Latinos, mirroring growing support among the general public, the center reported.
Half (52 percent) of Latinos now favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, while one-third (34 percent) are opposed. As recently as 2006, these figures were reversed (56 percent of Latinos opposed same-sex marriage, while 31 percent supported it). Latino evangelicals, however, remain strongly opposed to same-sex marriage (66 percent opposed vs. 25 percent in favor), the center reported.
The report was jointly produced by two projects of the Pew Research Center, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center. It follows a Pew Hispanic Center report, released last week, about Latino voters in this year’s election.
Both reports are based on a nationally representative bilingual telephone survey conducted Sept. 7-Oct. 4, 2012 (largely before the first presidential debate), among 1,765 Latino adults, including 903 registered voter, the center reported.
The Latino electorate today includes 23.7 million eligible voters — an increase of more than 4 million since 2008. Overall, Latinos now account for 11 percent of the nation’s eligible electorate, up from 9.5 percent in 2008. In addition, Latinos make up at least 14 percent of all eligible voters in three battleground states this year — Colorado, Florida and Nevada.
Click here for report, “Latinos, Religion and Campaign 2012: Catholics Favor Obama, Evangelicals Divided,”
The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
With the presidential race at a virtual tie in some polls, the Latino vote will play a critical role in the election of the next president.
No matter who you support, it is vital that the community examines all the issues carefully, the track record of candidate (not just the television soundbites) and base your vote on solid reasoning.
Remember, the last day to register to vote for the Presidential General Election is Oct. 22 and once you register, remember to cast your ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
— Frank X. Moraga is editor/publisher of Amigos805. He has served as business editor, director of diversity and general manager of a bilingual publication at the Ventura County Star, and as a reporter in the community editions of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News.