Immigration policy isn’t one of the top priorities for Hispanic voters, according to a new results of a poll in three key congressional races. The findings, from a survey conducted by the conservative LIBRE Initiative, come as President Obama is expected to announce his administration will grant legal status to millions of immigrants in the country illegally.
The poll surveyed Hispanic voters in races in which a Republican challenger defeated a Democratic incumbent: the Colorado Senate race (Cory Gardner over Mark Udall); Florida’s 26th congressional seat (Carlos Curbelo over Joe Garcia); and Texas’s 23rd congressional seat (Will Hurd over Pete Gallego). The survey found that in all three races that jobs and the economy outranked immigration as a top concern among Hispanics by large margins; the highest immigration was ranked in any race was fourth overall among issues.
For instance, in Colorado, where Gardner and Udall both won 48 percent of the Hispanic vote, 22 percent of Hispanics put the economy at the top of the list, followed by abortion at 10 percent, and health care at 9 percent. Immigration came in at 8 percent.
Republican Curbelo in Florida did the best among Hispanics out of the three races, winning 63 percent of the Hispanic vote to Garcia’s 37 percent. Thirty-three percent of Hispanics in that district said they ranked the economy as the top issue.
In Texas, Hurd lost Hispanics to Gallego by a 29 percent to 68 percent — the third most popular issue in that district was support for government social programs.
For more on the LIBRE Initiatives findings, click here.