2012 Latino Voters to Lawmakers: Invest in Kids
Washington — An analysis of nationwide election eve poll released today by the First Focus Campaign for Children shows overwhelming support from Latino voters for a wide range of federal investments in America’s children at levels higher than voters of all demographics and political affiliations. More than 9-in-10 Latino voters support increasing investments in child health, and more than 8-in-10 Latino voters support increasing investments in family tax credits, children of immigrants, child poverty reduction, and the federal government’s focus on children.
“Latino voters are saying with one loud, clear voice that they want Congress and the White House to invest in our kids,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.
The phone survey was conducted by Lake Research Partners using professional interviewers November 4th through November 6th, 2012. Lake Research Partners reached a total of 1,200 likely, registered voters nationwide, 10 percent of whom were Latino. The sample consisted of 1,000 interviews among all voters who were reached on landline phones and 200 interviews among all voters reached on cell phones. Telephone numbers for the base sample was drawn from a random digit dialing sample and the cell phone sample was drawn from a listed sample. The sample was stratified geographically based on the proportion of likely voters in each region. Data were weighted to reflect the aggregated Presidential vote as reported in the 2012 exit polls, as well as by gender, party identification, marital status, race, and census region. The margin of error at the 95 percent confidence interval is +/- 2.8 percentage points. This margin of error is higher among Latino voters.
Latino voters backed a wide range of federal initiatives to improve the well-being of children at higher levels of support than all voters including:
- A 92 percent to 5 percent margin of Latino voters say protecting children’s health through the extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program is important to them, compared to 83 percent of all voters.
- An 89 percent to 6 percent margin of Latino voters favor protecting elements of family tax credits, the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit that will expire this year unless Congress acts, compared to 81 percent of all voters.
- An 84 percent to 12 percent margin of Latino voters favor enacting the DREAM Act to offer qualifying students who entered the United States as undocumented immigrant children an opportunity to earn lawful permanent residency and a path to U.S. citizenship, compared to 68 percent of all voters.
- An 84 percent to 14 percent margin of Latino voters want Congress and the White House to deliver concrete plans to reduce child poverty in half within 10 years, compared to 82 percent of all voters.
- A 85 to 9 percent margin of Latino voters support creating a bipartisan “Children’s Commission” to recommend solutions to the problems facing children, compared to 78 percent of all voters.
- A 78 percent to 12 percent margin of Latino voters want the president to create a Children’s Budget to provide an official accounting of federal investments in children, compared to 66 percent of all voters.
“Latinos are sending a signal to politicians – you’re out of touch if you’re not leading the charge on children’s issues,” said Lesley.
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