Obama Won Virginia Latino Vote

By: Lowell
Published On: 2/14/2008 6:51:10 AM

Could Barack Obama be making major gains among Latino voters?  It sure looks like it, if you believe the exit polls:

In his decisive win against Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Virginia primary, Sen. Barack Obama was the top choice among Latino voters, according to exit polls.

Obama won 54 percent of the Hispanic vote compared to 46 percent for Clinton.

There's also this analysis, which concludes that Obama's "challenge with Latinos really does rest significantly on their simply not knowing him - a situation he's now beginning to change."  Apparently, the more people -- white, black, Latino, Asian American -- get to know Barack Obama, the more people like him.  That was obviously the case in Virginia.

What does all this mean?  If the trend seen in Virginia continues in upcoming primaries, perhaps it means "so much for Clinton's 'firewall' in Texas, where Latinos make up 36% of the population.

Comments



FYI (elevandoski - 2/14/2008 9:22:07 AM)
Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo-Vila announced his endorsement of Obama.


Si se puede! (Hugo Estrada - 2/14/2008 12:30:36 PM)
This makes me very, very,very happy, and it gives me a lot of hope to chip away the Latino support in Texas.


Too small a sample (Kryndis - 2/14/2008 3:24:19 PM)
Didn't I read that Latinos made up only something like 5% of the electorate in the primary?  I know it was some very small number.  54% of 5% of the electorate isn't all that impressive in the end I'm afraid.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Obama and I certainly hope Latinos embrace him the same as the many other groups that have come to see in him what we see.  I'm just saying that I think the sample size is way too small to truly call it a trend just yet.