Failure to act on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, despite overwhelming (and all-partisan) public support, isn't just bad policy, it's terrible politics for Democrats.
More than a third of Latino voters blame both parties in Congress for not trying hard enough to pass immigration reform, and Latino enthusiasm for voting in this year's mid-term elections is down, a new poll shows.
Those findings of an election-year tracking poll by Latino Decisions -- released this week and to be updated weekly -- underscore Latino voter dismay over the lack of progress on immigration, an issue that ranks second in importance to them, behind the economy, says one analyst.
"They are frustrated with both parties, and it would appear from the goings-on in D.C. that they are right - both parties are ignoring or avoiding the issue," said Matt Barreto, director of the poll and a political science professor at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The telephone poll of Latino registered voters in 21 states -- which comprised 94% of the Latino electorate in '08 -- was conducted from Aug. 13 to Aug. 26, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5%.
Given that Latinos are now a 2-1 Democratic constituency, and a fast-growing one at that, the lack of action and anti-Democratic blowback will be deadly at the polls.
Right now, most of the voters surveyed said they planned to vote Democratic. But a high percent remain uncommitted two months out, even though about 64% described themselves as Democrat, and only 24% said they were Republican.
Still, right now, only 52% said they planned to vote for Democrats in the upcoming House and Senate races, 23% plan to vote Republican, and 25% say they remain undecided.
Spanish-language media has been brutal against Obama and the Dems. They have pointed to the 60-vote Senate threshold as an excuse for inaction, but that has been an empty excuse. Had they put forward a bill, it would show a commitment to Latinos to the issue. And if it was defeated? So what? It would then be clear to Latinos who stood in the way of progress, and who was their real enemy. Dithering and inaction are the GOP's best friends.
But here's the thing -- there are several Democrats who also didn't want to see this bill introduced. Whether it's genuine electoral fear (even though the issue polls at over 60% for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents), or whether it's substantive hostility toward reform, the fact is that both internal and external pressures paralyzed Dems on the issue.
That weakness isn't going unnoticed by Latinos. And for a party struggling to survive what is shaping up to be a cataclysmic year, that inaction will only compound their problems.