GOP in Trouble with Latino Voters

A national poll released Monday showed 73 percent of Latino voters view the Republican Party as either ignoring or being outright hostile to them–an illustration of the difficulties the GOP has heading into the 2012 election.

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According to the survey of 500 registered Latino voters, only 9 percent said they were certain they would vote for a Republican presidential candidate while 43 percent were certain they would vote for President Barack Obama.

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In 2008, Obama captured 67 percent of the Latino vote compared to 31 percent for Republican Sen. John McCain. When Obama swept into the White House, the Latino vote in key swing states of Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida was considered critical to his victory.

Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said he knows the party has its work cut out for it. He has already started a broad outreach to the Latino community in the state.

“The Colorado Republican Party is investing in resources–many more than in past years–to court and reach out to the Latino vote and Latinos in our community to win their votes,” Call said. “It’s very important because without a great percentage of the Hispanic vote, Republicans will have a hard time winning Colorado as well as other swing states.”

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The survey was conducted across 21 states that comprise 95 percent of the Latino electorate and it has a margin of error of plus of minus 4.3 percent. Interviews were conducted in the language of preference–with 40 percent of those participating in the poll doing the survey in Spanish.