Thirty-four media outlets from across the country including the Associated Press and the New York Times participated in a teleconference hosted Thursday, Oct. 16 for the results of a national survey of Latino Protestant registered voters (n = 500) to assess their views on immigration and the 2008 election. The survey, conducted Oct. 1-7, 2008, was sponsored by the America's Voice Education Fund, Faith in Public Life, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership, and Claremont McKenna College Associate Professor of Religious Studies Gaston Espinosa, who served as director of the project.
A full report that includes results shared Thursday, as well as findings not yet released, will be posted online when it becomes available. In addition to the Associated Press and the New York Times, media outlets attending the Oct. 16 teleconference included Scripps Howard News Service, the Miami Herald, Telemundo, La Opini?n, Christianity Today, the Sacramento Bee, Politico, the Embassy of Mexico, and The San Francisco Chronicle.
The national, bilingual telephone survey asked a random sample of 1,104 Latinos nationwide their opinions on Latino religion, immigration, and the 2008 presidential election. The sampling included citizens, permanent residents, or non-resident status (covering all of the possibilities) and who are Catholic, Protestant, or other Christian religion. These adults were all 18 years of age or older, Hispanic, and declared that their religious preference was either Catholic or a Protestant religion, or other Christian.
Findings shared during Thursday's teleconference included data that Latino Protestants have shifted their support to the Democratic presidential candidate by a significant margin in 2008, and that immigration is a key factor in influencing their vote. However, Latino Protestants are as likely to associate negative rhetoric on immigration with both parties as they are with only Republicans indicating that Democrats have not entirely distinguished themselves as the sole champions for immigration reform.
Espinosa plans to release additional findings on 700 Latino registered voters and findings on Latino Catholics. He will also discuss the top 10 factors shaping the Latino vote in 2008, head-to-head match up with Obama and McCain on immigration reform, Latino views on Sarah Palin, and key controversial social issues that could influence the Latino vote on Election Day in key swing states where Latinos make up over 20 percent of the population such as in New Mexico, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada.
The margin of error for these 1,104 Latino interviews is +/- 2.9 percentage points. The margin of error for the results of 700 registered voters is +/- 3.7 percent and for 500 Hispanic Protestant +/- 4.4 percent. The margin of error for the results of 400 Hispanic Catholic interviews is +/- 4.9 percent. The study was fielded by SDR Consulting, which has more than 20 years of experience conducting Latino survey research.