Hispanic voters were a key part of the coalition that elected President Obama, but lately the demographic has soured on him.
Obama’s weekly approval among Hispanics dipped to 45 percent during the period ended Sept. 28, according to Gallup, and it has remained below 50 percent for the past five weeks.
While support for Obama is higher among Hispanics than the overall population, the cushion he had is diminishing as he enters the second half of his presidency. In early 2013, around the beginning of his second term, Gallup reported that Hispanic approval of Obama was 74 percent, compared with 51 percent approval from the population as a whole. This represents a 23 point gap that has all but disappeared, since the current weekly 45 percent approval among Hispanics is only slightly higher than the 42 percent approval overall.
Hispanics have generally been a consistent pocket of support for the president and generally trend towards Democrats. The group overwhelmingly supported Obama during the 2012 election, voting 71 percent in favor of the President. However, unfulfilled campaign promises of comprehensive immigration reform could be hurting his approval among the group.
A survey from the Pew Research Center indicates that 52 percent of Hispanic Democrats feel their party has handled immigration poorly and, of that 52 percent, nearly half (40 percent) believe that Democrats are “not willing enough” to grant legal status to illegal immigrants.
