EthnicMajority

(US News) It's been a particularly bad week for President Barack Obama.

His new jobs bill seems to be going nowhere fast despite his stumping the country in support of it. The Democrats lost two special elections for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives—one of which they had held since the Coolidge administration—in what was widely seen as a referendum on the job he is doing as president. Newspaper headlines are screaming that some members of his party are ready to push the panic button, and the bankruptcy of a so-called "green energy" firm that received heavy financial backing from Obama's Department of Energy—and which involves at least one of the president's major campaign contributors—is taking on all the earmarks of an emerging scandal.

To put it simply, the magic is gone.

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(AP) Hispanics are eager to blend into American society while still maintaining their cultural identity, a paradox that reflects the complex beliefs of the nation’s fastest-growing minority. And most don’t expect the United States to elect a Latino president in the next 20 years.

Those are some of the findings from an Associated Press-Univision poll of more than 1,500 Latinos. In addition, the survey suggests Hispanics worry more than most Americans about losing jobs and paying bills. They place a high importance on education and expect their children to go to college.

The poll, also sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Stanford University, found Hispanics torn between hopes for tomorrow and daily doses of financial stress.

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(Seattle Times) A new University of Washington poll suggests tea party supporters are not just angry about government spending and the new national health care law.

“The data tells us this opposition and frustration with government is going hand in hand with a frustration and opposition to racial and ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians,” said Matt Barreto, a political science professor and director of UW’s Washington Poll.

The poll, released on Tuesday, surveyed 1,695 voters in May by phone and has a 2.3 percent margin of error. It found that 35 percent of the voters surveyed “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the tea party movement, 37 percent dissaprove and 28 percent had no opinion or had not heard of the tea party.

The survey asked several questions related to race, immigration and gay rights.

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(TalkTVWorld) A poll released today by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo revealed a deep split in the opinions of white Americans and Hispanic Americans on the topics of immigration, the Arizona law and American politics. More than six in 10 Americans (61%) back Arizona’s controversial new immigration law, including 70% of whites but just 31% of Hispanics. Less than half (43%) of whites agree that immigration strengthens America, but the majority (68%) of Hispanics believe it does strengthen the nation.

Obama’s overall approval rating in the poll stands at 48%. But the divide exists here, too: Only about a third (38%) of whites approve of the president’s job, versus two-thirds (68%) of Hispanics who do. Similarly, only about a third (34%) of whites have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, versus more than half (54%) of Hispanics who do.

But the one thing all seem to agree on is their disapproval of President Obama’s handling of immigration reform — just 32% of the public approves of his job on this issue.

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