Hispanic Vote Is Key In Colorado's Senate Race

Pew Research Center: Hispanics Are An Important Voting Bloc In Colorado. The Hispanic vote in Colorado is substantial and could have a significant effect on the balance of power at the national level. According to an analysis of the state's Hispanic electorate by the Pew Research Center, Latinos in Colorado make up 14.2 percent of eligible voters, one-third higher than the national average of 10.7 percent. 

[Pew Research Center, 10/16/14]

Latino Voter Turnout Expected To Be High In Colorado. An October 14 poll by political opinion research firm Latino Decisions showed that 80 percent of registered Latino voters in Colorado are almost certain they will vote in the upcoming elections. [Latino Decisions, 10/14/14]

Latino Decisions: Economy One Of The Top Issues For Hispanic Voters. The Latino Decisions poll also reported that the main issues of concern for Hispanic voters -- which Hispanics said define who they vote for -- are unemployment, the economy, immigration reform, and health care. Latino Decisions wrote in its analysis of the poll results:

Economic concerns are priority issues for Latino voters this election cycle. Creating more jobs and fixing the economy were tied, with 24 percent of Latino voters in Colorado indicating these issues would be most important in drawing them to the polls on Election Day. Immigration remains similarly important with 23 percent of respondents citing immigration reform as their top priority. In fact, more than half of Latino voters (55%) said that House GOP attempts to cancel the Deferred Action (DACA) program make them less likely to vote for Republican Congressional candidates. With respect to other issue positions, candidates who support raising the minimum wage fair better with Latino voters, with nearly 70 percent saying they would vote for candidates who increase wages for workers. And, nearly 80 percent of respondents said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports expanding Medicaid. [Latino Decisions, 10/15/14]

Top Colorado Newspapers Rarely Mentioned Hispanic Voters And Their Issues Of Interest In Election Coverage

Hispanic Voters Mentioned In Only 8.7 Percent Of Senate-Race Coverage. Media Matters reviewed news articles in Colorado's two largest newspapers by circulation, The Denver Post and The Gazette, published between September 1 and October 28 that covered the U.S. Senate race. Our review found there were only five mentions of Hispanic voters in 57 news pieces, amounting to a mere 8.7 percent of their total election news coverage.

Issues Important To Hispanic Voters Received Little Coverage. Media Matters' review of the papers' coverage showed that the economy, immigration reform, and health care -- issues that Hispanic voters said were important to them -- received little attention. Of the 57 articles published, only 12 articles discussed health care, or 21 percent, only 10 articles discussed the economy, or 18 percent, and only six articles discussed immigration reform, or 11 percent.

Methodology

Media Matters searched the Nexis database for news articles from Colorado's top two highest-circulating newspapers, The Denver Post and The Gazette of Colorado Springs. Though The Denver Post has a Spanish publication with a considerable circulation rate, it is published only weekly. The search focused on the news coverage of the Colorado race for the U.S. Senate from Labor Day, the traditional start of the fall campaign, to October 28 using the search terms "(midterm or election or senate or race) and ((latino or hispanic) and vot!)" to find all relevant news coverage of the U.S. Senate race and within that universe, find mentions of the Hispanic vote. Articles were considered relevant if they specifically mentioned Latino voters or the impact they could have on the race. For the analysis of issues discussed in the articles, “economy” included mentions of job creation, unemployment, the housing market, and the minimum wage.