Overview The nation’s Latino population is diverse. Represented among the 51.9 million Latinos in the United States are individuals who trace their heritage to more than 20 Spanish-speaking nations worldwide. But one group—Mexicans—dominates the nation’s Latino population. In 2011, nearly two-thirds (64.6%) of U.S. Hispanics, or 33.5 million, traced their family origins to Mexico, according […]

I. Inside the 2012 Latino Electorate A record 11.2 million Latinos voted in the 2012 presidential election, but Latinos’ voter turnout rate continues to lag other groups significantly, according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center. Overall, 48% of Hispanic eligible voters turned out to vote in 2012, down […]

Overview Latinos own smartphones, go online from a mobile device and use social networking sites at similar—and sometimes higher—rates than do other groups of Americans, according to a new analysis of three surveys by the Pew Research Center. The analysis also finds that when it comes to using the internet,1 the digital divide between Latinos […]

Latinos voted for President Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney by 71% to 27%, according to an analysis of exit polls by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Project of the Pew Research Center.1 Obama’s national vote share among Hispanic voters is the highest seen by a Democratic candidate since 1996, when President Bill Clinton won […]

I.  Overview Hispanics have grown more satisfied with the nation’s direction and more confident in their finances since 2011, according to a new survey from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Today, half of Latinos (51%) express satisfaction with the direction of the country, a 13 percentage point increase over […]

Latino registered voters prefer President Barack Obama over Republican challenger Mitt Romney by 69% to 21% and express growing satisfaction with the direction of the nation and the state of their personal finances but are somewhat less certain than non-Hispanics that they will vote in this election, according to a new nationwide survey of 1,765 Latinos.

Due to their ongoing population growth, Latinos comprise a greater share of the nation’s eligible voters than they did just a few years ago—11.0% this year, up from 9.5% in 2008 and 8.2% in 2004. However, the turnout rate of eligible Latino voters has historically lagged that of whites and blacks by substantial margins.

By a ratio of more than two-to-one (59% versus 27%), Latinos disapprove of the way the Obama administration is handling deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

The poverty rate for Hispanics was 28.2% in 2010, higher than it was for blacks, non-Hispanic whites or Asians, and higher than the official poverty rate for Hispanics, 26.7%, reported by the Census Bureau.

The spread of poverty across the United States that began at the onset of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and accelerated last year hit one fast-growing demographic group especially hard: Latino children.