Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

States in Which Hispanics Key to Clinton Victory

Latino voters lopsidedly supported Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in most of this year’s primary elections thus far, and in three states — California, Texas and New Mexico — Latino voters more than accounted for Clinton’s total margin of victory. In all three states, Clinton would likely not have won without strong support among Hispanics. For example, in Texas, Clinton topped Obama by only 4 percentage points in the overall vote but earned a 34-point margin over Obama among Latinos. With Hispanics accounting for 32% of Texas voters (up from 24% in 2004), Clinton’s margin among this group more than offset (by a factor of slightly less than 3-to-1) her losing margin among other voters. In California, where they accounted for 30% of the Democratic primary electorate, an increase from 16% in 2004, Hispanic voters accounted for slightly more than Clinton’s overall margin of victory. Read More