CNN Poll: Obama at 70% among Latino voters
Editor's Note: In America follows the fight to win an essential voting bloc in Nevada, a battleground state with one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the nation. Soledad O’Brien reports “Latino in America: Courting Their Vote” at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
By CNN Political Unit
(CNN) – The latest national survey of likely Latino voters shows President Barack Obama retaining a big lead over rival Mitt Romney in the key voting demographic, matching the level of support he received from Latinos in 2008.
The poll also showed a majority of Latinos said the economy was a more important issue than immigration, and indicated enthusiasm among Latinos is lower than it is among non-Latino whites.
Obama enjoys the backing of 70% of likely Latino voters, according to the CNN/ORC International survey, slightly higher than the 67% of Latinos who voted for him in 2008. Republican nominee John McCain garnered 31% of the 2008 Latino vote. In 2004, 53% of Latinos went for the Democratic nominee John Kerry over the 44% who went for President George W. Bush, according to national exit polls.
Read the full post on CNN's Political Ticker
Opinion: Kennedy Center Honors snub Latinos
Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Follow him on Twitter: @rubennavarrette.
By Ruben Navarrette, Jr., CNN Contributor
(CNN) - Normally, you might think that a controversy over whether the Kennedy Center, one of the nation's leading performing arts organizations, is overlooking the contributions of Latino artists, actors and musicians would be a real sleeper.
Until you heard that, during a recent telephone conversation between one lover of the arts and another, one claims the other told him to "F- yourself."
Ok, gentlemen, you have my attention.
It all happened very quickly. On Sept. 14, Felix Sanchez, chairman of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, and Michael M. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts talked. In multiple media reports, Sanchez said that Kaiser took none too kindly to him expressing his concern over the constant omission of Latinos from the annual list of Kennedy Center Honors recipients.
Since 1978, the Kennedy Center has chosen only two Hispanics among more than 170 honorees: Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and U.S.-born performer Chita Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican descent. Both these breakthroughs happened during Michael Kaiser's tenure, which has lasted nearly 12 years.
In 2012, Latinos are nearly ubiquitous. You'll find them in corporate America, professional sports, music, entertainment, politics and the media. At 50 million people, America's largest minority is everywhere. Except, for some reason, on the annual list of Kennedy Center Honorees.
Judge blocks Pennsylvania voter ID law for November election
Philadelphia (CNN) - A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday that state officials cannot enforce a new voter identification law in next month's presidential election.
The ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson is expected to be appealed, but amounted to good news for Democrats who contend the voter ID law is motivated by Republican efforts to suppress the traditionally Democratic minority vote.
"It's a huge victory in that the photo ID requirement for the November election has been blocked and people without ID will be able to vote on regular ballots," said Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania.
Supporters argue that the law signed in March by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett will prevent voter fraud and is upheld by the Constitution.
Sisters navigate new Pennsylvania voter ID law
FULL STORY
It's immigration, stupid, say Latino voters in Nevada
Editor’s note: In America follows the fight to win an essential voting bloc in Nevada, a battleground state with one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the nation. Soledad O’Brien reports “Latino in America: Courting Their Vote” at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
By Moni Basu, CNN
(CNN) - Marlene Monteolivo was a Democrat for many years, then a Republican. Now she's registered as a nonpartisan voter in Nevada who wants to support a candidate who will make the economy better.
The Colombia native, who works for a Las Vegas social services agency, says she's leaning toward GOP challenger Mitt Romney. She likes his business sensibilities.
Not surprisingly, Latinos nationwide put the economy as their top priority in a CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday.
But there's a hiccup. And it's a big one called immigration.
It's the 200-pound anchor on the Republican message, say experts in Nevada politics.
Monteolivo doesn't like that Republicans blocked passage of the Dream Act, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She bristled at Romney's comment that 47% of Americans feel entitled to government aid. She took it to mean that Latinos, many of whom are not well off, are considered freeloaders.
Come November, Monteolivo says, her option might be to "vote for none of the above."
Romney and President Barack Obama are vying for the attention of 268,000 eligible Latino voters in Nevada, a critical bloc in a battleground state that is still reeling from the Great Recession. FULL POST
About In America
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
Black in America
iReport
