President Barack Obama maintains a considerable lead over Mitt Romney among Latino voters, according to a new poll released Wednesday by NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and Telemundo.
The poll shows Obama leading Romney among registered Latino voters nationwide, 63 percent to 28 percent. Obama earns high marks from Latino voters for his job handling the economy and foreign policy, with approval ratings of 59 percent and 58 percent on each respective issue. Sixty-two percent of Latino voters approve of Obama’s job performance overall, compared with only 32 percent who disapprove.
The poll suggests that Romney may have his work cut out for him if he is to reach the benchmark set by his campaign. A campaign aide told The Hill that the Republican ticket is vying to claim 38 percent of the Latino vote this November. That’s seven percentage points higher than Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) share of the Latino vote in 2008 and just a notch below the 40 percent mark attained by former President George W. Bush in 2004.
Romney has never reached the 38 percent threshold in the PollTracker Average, which currently shows Obama holding a massive lead among Latino voters, 60.1 percent to 30.9 percent.
