This post is a followup on my analysis of Gallup polling showing a slip in the traditional tendency of Hispanics to vote Democrat.  I would encourage you to read the previous post if you have not already done so.

  This is necessary to note from Washington Times analysis of the data:
 

The Left is arguing that those of Dominican descent can’t possibly be thinking any differently about immigration than Mexicans who cross the border illegally.  How could a Puerto Rican think any differently about immigration than an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, the Left would theorize. Liberals might as well just say Hispanics all look alike and speak the same language, so they all share the same concerns.”

This appraisal of the Democratic attitude towards immigrants is what establishes their misperception of the entire constituency.  The fact is, not all Hispanics are opposed to immigration restrictions.  Actually, the split of Hispanics between pro-immigration policy and anti-immigration policy is roughly 50-50. 

This trend is displayed in the data delivered by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, polling registered voters in Nevada.  When asked whether citizens believed illegal immigrants had a positive or negative effect on Nevada, 43% of Hispanics said the effect was negative compared to 45% who believed it was positive.  A roughly 50-50 split.

Further proof that the constituency is up for grabs?  Let’s look at the breakdown of the Hispanic vote on recent major anti-immigration referenda Arizona as cited by CNN exit polls and Latino voter research data:

• Arizona Proposition 103- Declaring English as the Official Language:  48% of Hispanics FOR
• Arizona Proposition 300- Preventing Illegals from Receiving Public Benefits: 40% of Hispanics FOR
• Also in Arizona, 41% of Hispanics voted for incumbent Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who made illegal immigration a central campaign issue.
• Another post recently about Harry Reid’s Dream Act also underlines this fact: you can find it here.

The problem for liberals is that in their extreme effort to appeal to minorities they have conceived a fatal error.  Their activism in opposition to immigration laws has alienated large groups of Hispanic Americans who do not associate themselves with Mexican immigrants. Grouping all Hispanics into one voting bloc, and giving this group a generalized label based on perceptions of the Hispanic mindset has effectively alienated Hispanics from the Democratic Party.

Now, consider, as my previous post stated, that the discrepancy between Hispanics likely to vote Democrat and those likely to vote Republican has narrowed significantly.  The relevance of this statistic is that the traditionally high percentage of Hispanic Democrats compared to Hispanic Republicans has shrunk.  Today, empirical evidence proves that Hispanic voters are trending away from the Democratic Party.  All Republicans have to do is stick to their guns and count on the left-wing activists to keep pushing that constituency further to the right.  Just like everything else in this election, Republicans don’t have to do anything but claim to be different from Democrats.  Because that’s all people want in Congress…non-Democrats.