This is what happens when the yapping bobble-heads in the press start to believe their own shallow narratives. The specific narrative in this case is the "Obama has a Latino problem," or the variant, "Hispanics won't vote for an African American." It first took root during the lead up to NV, then really took off in CA. Unfortunately it only got reinforced as Senator Clinton continued to be the preferred Democratic candidate among Latinos.
That led the FUD to continue to be slathered on in thick, creamy chunks as the "chicken littles" on the Left ate it up, buying into the false logic of "If A is less than B, A is also less than C." There were absolutely no facts being offered to back up that conclusion, but it damn sure never stopped anyone from reaching it.
A better analogy for it is the "food choice" analogy. A demographic --we'll call it "X"-- is asked to choose between cake and pie. Overwhelmingly, they seem to prefer pie. Instead of crafting a "Demographic X prefers pie over cake!" narrative, the press instead went with, "Demographic X doesn't like cake!" Never mind that in the next round of the election the choice is between cake and olive loaf. No no, we mustn't think about that. Just focus on "Demographic X doesn't like cake!!!!1" please, and let us sell our ads.
Well, lo and behold, now the geniuses have actually started polling Demographic X on their preference between cake and olive loaf, and the results are about what you'd expect, given those choices.
A new Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May shows Obama winning 62% of Latino registered voters nationwide, compared with just 29% for McCain. Others have found a wide gap as well. The pro-Democratic group Democracy Corps compiled surveys from March through May that showed Obama with a 19-point lead among Latinos. And a Times poll published last month showed Obama leading McCain among California Latinos by 14 points.
Republicans say McCain's numbers among Latinos at the moment are disappointing -- far below the goals set by a campaign that has long believed McCain could challenge the traditional Democratic dominance of the Latino electorate.
The numbers suggest that McCain's image has suffered after a competitive GOP primary in which he renounced some of the moderate views on immigration popular among many Latinos. For example, McCain, who was a chief sponsor of legislation creating a path to citizenship for most of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, now says he believes the government must focus first on securing the U.S.-Mexico border before dealing with illegal workers.
The new position helped mollify some conservatives who viewed McCain as soft on illegal immigration. But it now leaves the senator forced to come from behind in an area that was supposed to be a strength. And McCain must weigh two competing needs: attracting Latinos in the Southwest and Florida turned off by the GOP's hard-line opposition to his legislation and mobilizing conservative whites who could prove crucial in Ohio and other battlegrounds.
That's right, Gallup currently finds that "Demographic X" prefers cake to olive loaf by more than 2:1. Who'dathunkit? Besides Markos, I mean.
Sure, there's plenty of time for McCain to keep running towards the center, and maybe flop his flips on immigration to try and pander to Latinos. But as the article points out, that will likely alienate the xenophobic whites in his base. Whatever is a flip-flopping pander bear to do?
Man, it sucks to be John McCain.