Obama may not have done his reelection campaign any favors by pulling a Dan Carpenter-vs-the-Jets level chokejob in Wednesday's debate. But it's increasingly clear that, at least in Florida, the president has gotten a huge boost from his executive order in July halting deportations for some children of illegal immigrants.
A new poll finds that Obama has opened a massive thirty point lead among Florida's Hispanics.
The survey, released last night by Latino Decisions and America's Voice, sampled 400 registered Latino voters in the Sunshine State about the presidential race and a host of immigration issues.
Sixty-one percent of the voters said they'd vote for Obama, with just 31 percent backing Romney; that's a huge split in Florida, especially considering the traditionally GOP Cuban-American base in Miami.
There's no mystery about why the president has opened up such a wide margin among Florida's Hispanics.
Asked how they felt about the Obama's decision to circumvent Congress -- which has failed to pass the DREAM Act -- to stop some deportations for young children of immigrants, 53 percent said the move made them more enthusiastic about voting for the president.
Romney, on the flip side, has been burned by his support for Arizona's harsh immigration crackdown. In Florida, 57 percent of those polled said it made them less likely to support the challenger.
Worth noting: America's Voice is a left-leaning group that supports immigration reform, so, as always, take a grain of salt with their findings. Still, their results echo other surveys among Florida Hispanics -- and really, it makes sense that Obama's moderate approach to reform appeals better than Romney's base-pandering on Arizona's intolerance.
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