President Barack Obama's popularity in the Latino community is bouncing back after his executive order on immigration, with more than half now approving of the job he is doing as president, a new
Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Telemundo survey shows.
The survey, released Thursday, showed that 57 percent of Hispanic Americans approve of Obama's job performance, up 10 points from 47 percent in September. The numbers still fall short, however, of the 62 percent approval rating he was given in an April 2013 survey.
Of the 250 Hispanic adults surveyed in the latest poll, 56 percent also said they approve of how the president handles immigration, up from just 45 percent in May 2010.
In addition, the poll showed 66 percent found Obama is doing either "very" or "somewhat" well when it comes to addressing Hispanic and Latino concerns, and just 30 percent felt that way about Republican elected officials.
Hispanic voters were once among Obama's strongest supporters, but since 2012 their has support dropped. It declined most notably after he
delayed enacting his executive order on immigrant amnesty until after the November midterm elections.
The new survey also showed Republicans have a long road to climb when it comes to winning over Hispanic voters in the 2016 presidential race. About half of those surveyed said it would be better to have a Democrat than a Republican as the next president, with just 27 percent of Hispanics choosing a Republican.
The survey was also good news for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with 61 percent saying they could see themselves supporting her if she runs.
Former 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney rated top among Republicans, with 31 percent support of likely Hispanic voters. That percentage of support was slightly better than what he netted in 2012, when he ran against Obama.
And while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has been considered as one Republican who may appeal to Hispanic voters, just 28 percent of those asked in the survey said they could support Bush, and 48 percent saying they would not.
But even with the growing support shown Obama, Hispanic voters seem to be growing tired of the president. Six in 10 said whoever is elected next should take a different approach than Obama, as opposed to the 34 percent who wanted to see a president with a similar approach.
The survey was conducted on Dec. 10-14, before the president's announcement on Cuba on Wednesday, and carried a margin of error of plus or minus 6.2 percentage points.