President Obama’s support among Latino voters has declined over the past year, but he still carries more support from them when matched up against potential Republican opponents ahead of the 2012 election, according to a survey of Latino adults released on Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
While 58 percent of Latinos approved of Obama’s performance as president in 2010, 49 percent of them now approve, according to the poll. Meanwhile, 59 percent of Latinos disapprove of how the Obama administration is managing the deportation of illegal immigrants, while only 27 percent approve.
The Obama administration has overseen a record number of deportations.
Still, the survey showed Obama easily winning more support among Latinos in hypothetical match-ups against Republican presidential candidates. Sixty-eight percent said they would vote for Obama if he were up against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who would earn 23 percent of the Latino vote, the poll found. The numbers were similar when Obama was stacked up against Texas Gov. Rick Perry – 69 percent to 23 percent.
In both match-ups, Obama even carried the majority of Latino voters who opposed his deportation policy.
The survey of 1,220 Latino adults was conducted between Nov. 9 and Dec. 7.
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