The Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections

Tuesday's midterm elections were historic for Hispanics. For the first time ever, three Latino

candidates-all of them Republicans-won top statewide offices. In New Mexico, voters elected the nation's first Latina governor, Republican Susana Martinez. In Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval won the governor's race and became Nevada's first Hispanic governor. And in Florida, Republican Marco Rubio won the U.S. Senate race.

Despite these big top-of-the-ticket wins for Republican Hispanic candidates, Latino voters continued their strong support for Democratic candidates nationwide. National exit poll results show that Democrats had a nearly two-to-one advantage-64% versus 34%-over Republicans in U.S. House races among Latino voters. In other statewide races, Democratic candidates won the Latino vote, usually by wide margins.

Overall, according to the national exit poll, Latinos represented 8% of all voters, unchanged from 2006.

These and other findings can be found in a new report about the Latino vote in the 2010 midterm elections. Based on a Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, analysis of exit poll results, the report contains findings for the Latino vote nationally in U.S. House of Representatives races and an analysis of gubernatorial and Senate races in the states of Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, and the gubernatorial race in Texas.

The report, "The Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections," authored by Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

This report is one of three about the 2010 midterm elections from the Pew Research Center. For an exit poll analysis of the general electorate from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, see "Unpopular GOP Wins Across-the-Board Victory." For an exit poll analysis of how religious groups voted from Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, see "Religion in the 2010 Elections: A Preliminary Look."

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.