Figure 1999 to 2007: Narrows, Democratic Lead Among Latinos Narrows, Then Widens
After spending the first part of this decade loosening their historic ties to the Democratic Party, Hispanic voters have reversed course in the past year, a new nationwide survey of Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center has found.
Some 57% of Hispanic registered voters now call themselves Democrats or say they lean to the Democratic Party, while just 23% align with the Republican Party – meaning there is now a 34 percentage point gap in partisan affiliation among registered Latinos. In July, 2006, the same gap was just 21 percentage points – whereas back in 1999, it had been 33 percentage points.
Figure  | 1999 to 2007: Narrows, Democratic Lead Among Latinos  | Narrows, Then Widens  | it I a a : S I  | Democratic  | Republican  | 58  | 56  | 55  | 49  | 28  | 28  | 25  | 25  | 23  | 1999  | 2002  | 2004*  | 2006  | 2007  | Sources Pew Hispanic Center, 20002: 2007 National Surveys of Latinos (JJune 2004)  | and Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundatlon-Harvard University, 1993 Nationa  | Survey on Latinos in-manca 