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Latinos had a higher voter turnout in the 2006 mid-term elections than in 2002, but the vote still falls far behind the growth of the Latino population.
That’s according to an analysis (PDF) from the Pew Hispanic Center of U.S. Census data, which finds that demographic trends have lead to the gap. According to the analysis, Latinos represented almost half of the total population growth in the United States between 2002 and 2006. But new eligible voters were composed of just 20% of individuals identifying as Latino.
The report says the gap could be due to the facts that a high percentage of new Latinos are too young to vote or not eligible due to immigration status.
It’s estimated that 13 percent of the total Latino population voted in 2006, while whites carried 39 percent and African Americans had 27 percent.
