A report by the Pew Hispanic Center analyzing Census data from the 2010 reapportionment reveals that Hispanic voters are nearly three times more prevalent in states that gained congressional seats and Electoral College votes than they are in states that lost seats.
This positions Hispanic voters to continue to grow even more powerful as a voting bloc than ever before.
“With these reapportionment changes, Latinos likely will play a larger role in national politics in the coming decade,” states the report on the website.
Nearly 6 million Hispanics have become eligible to vote putting their numbers now at 20.1 million in total. Two states in particular with large populations of Hispanics, Florida and Nevada, gained seats and are considered to be key swing battlegrounds. In the most recent presidential elections, 2004 and 2008, voters elected the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee, respectively.
The researchers found that the percentage of eligible voters that are Hispanic in states gaining seats is 15.2 percent, while those states that lost seats remained with a flat average of 5.4 percent.
Overall the country grew to a total population of about 308 million or by 9 percent. Hispanics accounted for 51 percent of that growth. The Hispanic population stands at 48.4 million with 20.1 million being eligible to vote.
“No matter what happens with immigration patterns in the future, the aging of the U.S. born Latino youth bulge ensures that the electoral strength of the nation’s largest minority group will continue to grow in the coming decades” the center said. “And much of that growth will take place in states that have gained congressional seats and Electoral College votes.”
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