Shabby Poll! Targeted sampeling. Does not reflect National Views.

Hispanic voters say immigration's No. 1
Thursday, May 21st 2009, 4:00 AM

They have enough problems already, but a poll released Monday is sure to give anti-immigration extremists and Republican leaders plenty more to fret about.

Conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a Miami-based consulting firm, and sponsored by America's Voice, a pro-immigration reform group, the poll confirmed for the umpteenth time that immigration is a defining issue for the 12 to 13 million Hispanics who are eligible to vote in the U.S.

"The anti-immigrant movement's divisive tone and demagogic rhetoric keeps politicizing Hispanics and bringing them together in support of a new immigration policy," Sergio Bendixen, president of Bendixen and Associates, concluded about the survey results.

To make matters even more worrisome for the flagbearers of nativism and intolerance, the survey found that the number of Hispanics who exercise their right to vote has dramatically increased since the 2006 midterm elections.

While only half of the 800 survey participants interviewed in 13 states from April 28 to May 5 said they voted in the 2006 midterm elections - which traditionally attract fewer voters than presidential ones - 86% said they did so in the 2008 presidential election.

Asked about 2010, when immigration is certain to be a major issue, 75% of respondents said they were very likely to vote in that midterm election. One can only imagine how many more will show up at the polls for the next presidential contest.

None of this is surprising. After all, 75% of those interviewed for the Bendixen report said they thought anti-immigrant sentiment against Hispanics - not just illegal immigrants - was growing. Fifty-nine percent said immigration was a very important issue to them and their families.

The poll also found that, like the rest of the country, Hispanics are concerned about the economic crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care, housing and the quality of education. But with 69% saying they knew undocumented immigrants as friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers, immigration is an issue that affects Latino voters in very intimate way. Actually, 87% of respondents said they would not vote for any congressional candidate who was in favor of forcing illegal immigrants to leave the country.

The Republican Party, in the meantime, is caught between "la espada y la pared" (a sword and a wall). They desperately need the Latino vote but haven't discovered a magic formula to woo Hispanics without alienating the extremists and xenophobes in their party.

Here in New York, our mostly immigrant-friendly Mayor Bloomberg wasted no time in jumping off the Republican ship. Hizzoner may still have trouble with the language of Cervantes but he has no trouble at all understanding the power of the Latino vote. He has been doing a lot of talking - in English and Spanish - to every TV channel and "ethnic" paper in the city.

Nationally, Latino voters believe President Obama will keep his promise to propose a comprehensive immigration bill to Congress during his first year in office. Amazingly, 83% of those surveyed said they thought Obama "will do the right thing" on immigration.

THAT, OF COURSE, is great for the Democratic Party. But if Obama doesn't come through, Republicans would have a real chance to bring back thousands of Hispanic voters into their fold - provided the GOP can finally agree on a rational position on immigration reform.

"Hispanic voters are ready to support the candidates who support them and a comprehensive immigration reform in 2010," SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina said in reaction to the report. And this time, no politician can afford to forget it.

aruiz@nydailynews.com.

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