Hispanic voters to increase 23% from 2004

According to a new study by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, Hispanic voters will increase by 1.7 million or 23% from 2004. According to the study 9.3 million Hispanic voters will go to the polls in the 2008 presidential elections.

“As the U.S. Latino population surges, we are seeing increases in registration/voter turnout due to increased naturalization numbers by Latino immigrants beginning in the 1990s and Latino youth coming of voting age” said Harry Pachon, Ph.D., President of TRPI.

Obviously, the states with the largest Hispanic populations will be impacted the most by this increase. In California, for example, it takes a mere 3.1% of Hispanic voters to cause a 1% shift in election results. In Florida it takes 4.5% to cause the same 1% shift. Get more here.

New Orleans gets even more Hispanic

Last year we blogged about the Latino Baby Boom in New Orleans and now they get their own full-power Spanish television station. The Telemundo station launched last Friday on Channel 42, underscoring the boom in the Latino population since Hurricane Katrina. It is estimated that about 58,000 Hispanic lived in New Orleans prior to the storm and that has since doubled. The station will carry Telemundo's programming as well as daily newscasts beginning in February.