U.S. Hispanic voters expected to double

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The record number of Latinos who voted for U.S. president this year is likely to double in a generation, an analysis showed Wednesday.

The analysis was by the Pew Hispanic Center of U.S. Census Bureau data, Election Day exit polls and a new nationwide survey of Hispanics.

The center said 53 million Hispanics comprise 17 percent of the U.S. population, but an exit poll indicted Latinos were just 10 percent of all voters this year.

But the center said the Hispanic share of the electorate will rise quickly for several reasons -- "the most important is that Hispanics are by far the nation's youngest ethnic group."

The center said Hispanic median age is 27 years, and just 18 years among native-born Hispanics, compared with 42 years for that of white non-Hispanics.

The Pew Hispanic Center said its projections indicate Hispanics will account for 40 percent of the growth in the eligible electorate in the United States between now and 2030.

In 2030, the analysis said, 40 million Hispanics will be eligible to vote, rising from 23.7 million today.

The report, "An Awakened Giant: The Hispanic Electorate Is Likely to Double by 2030," is authored by Paul Taylor, director; Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, research associate; Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer; and Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director.

The report is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

The Pew Hispanic Center is a project of the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan research organization based in Washington and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.