Hispanics turning from McCain, poll says

WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- Immigration may be alienating Hispanic voters previously receptive to Sen. John McCain's Republican bid for the U.S. presidency, pollsters said.

While earning support of nearly seven in 10 Hispanics during his last Senate race in Arizona, a recent Pew Hispanic Center poll indicates that 23 percent of Latinos would vote for McCain in the presidential race, Politico reported.

"You have to understand in a way that the Republican Party is damaged among Hispanics," Hessy Fernandez, McCain's spokeswoman for Hispanic media, told the Washington publication. "But at the end of day, it's the contrast between Senator McCain and Sen. (Barack) Obama," the likely Democratic presidential candidate from Illinois who enjoys broad support among Hispanic voters.

While McCain's support of the eventually defeated immigration bill appealed to Hispanics, it riled conservatives. His campaign foundering, McCain vowed to prioritize enforcement -- a shift that angered Hispanics, Politico said.

"McCain's problem is the problem of his party demonizing Hispanic people," Luis Cortes, one of Time magazine's 25 most influential evangelicals who backed George Bush, told Politico. "His party demonized us. You can't switch off the immigration rhetoric and think it will work."