Among all Americans and U.S. registered voters, healthcare, economic growth, and the federal deficit roughly tie as the most important issues, while immigration ranks last among both groups of Americans.
The new USA Today/Gallup poll makes it clear that economic issues -- particularly unemployment and economic growth -- are more important to Hispanic voters nationwide than immigration.
Hispanic immigrants and first-generation Hispanic Americans are more likely to mention immigration than those whose family has been in the U.S. longer than that. Specifically, 16% of Hispanic voters who are themselves immigrants to the U.S. name immigration as a priority, similar to the 14% of those who were born here but with at least one parent born abroad. By contrast, 7% of Hispanic voters who, along with their parents, were U.S.-born do the same.
The findings are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with 1,753 Hispanic adults in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia conducted April 16-May 31. The sample includes 1,005 Hispanic registered voters who, on a weighted basis, represent 47% of the total sample of U.S. Hispanics.
Source: Gallup, Hispanic Voters Put Other Issues Before Immigration, www.gallup.com, June 25, 2012.
