It’s too soon to tell what kind of effect Latinos had in the key swing states of yesterday’s presidential election but a CBS exit poll demonstrates Latino voters went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney.
In an exit poll (conducted after voters leave the polls) of approximately 2600 Latinos, Obama received 71 percent of the votes to Romney’s 27 percent. By comparison, whites favored Romney 59 percent to 39 percent. Asians voted 73 percent to 26 percent for Obama. (Romney got 6 percent of the black vote.)
Obama’s support among Latinos softened as they got older. Latino voters ages 18 to 29 gave Obama a 74 to 23 percent victory. Latinos 30-44 supported him 71 to 28, while older Latinos 45-64 gave him 68 percent to 31 percent The closest margin was among Latinos 65 and older who voted for Obama 65 to 35 percent. That’s close to the opposite of how white voters over 65 voted for Romney: 61 to 39 percent.
Latino men weren’t as supportive of Obama as Latinas. The men voted for him 65 to 33 percent while the women backed him 76 percent to 23 percent.
Obama also did well in households with income below $50,000 with a 57 percent to 42 percent victory among households with $30,000 to $49,999. Households below $30,000 backed him 63 percent to 35 percent.
It was a tossup with Catholics statistically with Obama getting 50 percent and Romney scoring 48 percent. Weekly churchgoers backed Romney 59 to 39 while those who say they never attend religious services backing Obama 62 percent to 38 percent over Romney.
