Hispanics Key to Clinton Victories in Nation's Two Biggest States

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Hispanics Key to Clinton Victories in Nation's Two Biggest States

Sen. Hillary Clinton would not have won primaries in the nation's two largest states -- California and Texas -- if Latinos had not turned out in such large numbers and if they had not voted so heavily in her favor, according to an analysis of exit polling data.

She also would not have carried a third state -- New Mexico -- without strong Latino support. In all three states, Latinos accounted for at least 30% of the total votes cast in the Democratic primary, and Clinton outpolled Sen. Barack Obama among Latinos by a ratio of about two-to-one.

In Tuesday's primary (March 4) in Texas, Clinton's winning margin of votes among Latinos was nearly three times as great as her overall statewide lead in votes. Calculations based on exit poll data show that Obama carried Texas by 55% to 44% among all non-Latino voters. However, Latinos accounted for 32% of votes cast in the Texas primary, up from 24% in 2004. They favored Clinton over Obama by 66% to 32%.

View the complete resources on Hispanics in the 2008 Election on the Pew Hispanic Center Web site, including "Hispanics Key to Clinton Victories in Nation's Two Biggest States" and select state fact sheets, which contain data on the size and social and economic characteristics of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic eligible voter populations.

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