Obama builds big lead among Latinos

Barack Obama appears to have won over Hispanic voters, including those who supported Hillary Clinton over him in the Democratic primaries, according to a new poll out today.

Obama leads 66 percent to 23 percent over Republican John McCain among Latino registered voters nationwide, with 11 percent undecided, according to the survey conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.

Clinton carried the Hispanic vote by about a 2-1 margin in the primaries. Now, more than three-quarters of Latinos who had voted for Clinton now say they are for Obama, while only 8 percent say they plan to support McCain. That's more support for Obama among Clinton voters than among non-Hispanic whites, Pew said.

"Hispanics seem to have seamlessly shifted from Clinton to Obama," Susan Minushkin, deputy director of the Pew Hispanic Center, told the Associated Press.

Obama's favorability number -- 76 percent -- is now higher than Clinton's 73 percent, and far higher than McCain's 44 percent.

The poll also found that Obama's race does not hurt him among Hispanics: 32 percent said it would help Obama, while 11 percent said it hurts him, and 53 percent said it makes no difference.

While Hispanics make up only about 1 in 10 eligible voters nationally, they could play a pivotal role in four potential battleground states: Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.

The telephone survey was conducted from June 9 through July 13 among 2,015 adult Hispanics, including 892 who said they were registered voters. The margin of sampling error for registered voters was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.