How do Latinos view the parties handling of the illegal immigration issue?
When we ask Latinos specifically to assess the kind of job the political parties are doing dealing with the issue of illegal immigration, we find that they rate the Democratic Party much more favorably than the Republican Party. However, a significant share of Latinos don’t think it makes much difference. They don’t see much difference between the parties on that issue. Do Latinos view Republicans as anti-Hispanic? We know from the survey—we didn’t ask the question explicitly that way—but a plurality felt that the policies of the Bush White House had been harmful. How deep or lasting do you think the damage is that the GOP has suffered with Latino voters? Only time will tell. There is still a year to go until 2008, and in politics that is an eternity. A lot can happen between now and then. These findings represent a worrisome set of early signals to the Republican Party as they think about their prospects of attracting Latino voters next year. How central a role is the immigration issu
