Immigration came up for the first time during last night’s second presidential debate, and both presidential candidates spoke on their plan for immigration reform.
President Obama and Governor Romney faced off at Hofstra University on various topics important to Latinos, including the economy, jobs, and immigration. Viewers felt that President Obama “dominated” this debate and his performance outshined Romney’s.
“It was about time the debates addressed the immigration issue,” says Stephen Nuño, NBC Latino contributor and political scientist at Northern Arizona University. “The difference between the two on their commitments to address the issue of undocumented immigrants couldn’t be more stark, and Romney’s plan is an illustration of how far out of touch the core of Republicans are on the issue.”
Nuño adds that Latinos recognize that Republicans have a problem with their policy, and that they continue to fail to understand the underlying distrust that this creates among Latinos toward the Republican Party, highlighted by Governor Romney’s use of the term “illegal” twelve times during the debate.
A nationwide poll conducted by CNN/ORC International says that President Obama won this debate overall. And as of October 15th, President Obama national still retains a lead among Latino voters.
“President Obama was certainly the more aggressive and ‘presidential’ of the two in this debate,” says Stella Rouse, political scientist at the University of Maryland. “I thought Obama was more balanced in his tone and mannerism.”
Recent Comments