Just 50 percent of likely Hispanic voters say they plan to vote for Gore, down from 71 percent who voted for Bill Clinton in 1996. And even if Gore succeeds in boosting his Hispanic support before the November election, the poll suggests that the Democrats could lose more of these voters in years to come. Nearly one-third of the Hispanic voters who described themselves as Democrats, for instance, also said they were politically conservative. Hispanics aligned themselves with Democrats starting in the 1930s when they were courted by Franklin Roosevelt, and solidified that connection when fellow Catholic John F. Kennedy was elected, said Lionel Sosa, a media consultant for the Bush campaign. But they turned more receptive to Republicans when courted by Ronald Reagan, and should do so again when approached by Bush, Sosa said.
Republicans also face a community greatly influenced by the church when it comes to social issues.
Three out of five are Catholic, the poll showed. While that rate is lower than in Latin America, many of those who came here and left the Catholic Church did so to join more conservative, fundamentalist Christian denominations. And it is still more than twice the rate of Catholicism in the rest of the United States. Two out of five, a plurality, want more restrictions on abortion. That sentiment is even stronger among non-Catholic Hispanics than Catholics.