WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Texas Hispanics prefer Democratic candidates but by a smaller percentage than those in the other 49 states, a poll released Friday indicates.
A Gallup Inc. poll showed Hispanics in Texas are decidedly Democratic in their political leanings, with 46 percent preferring Democratic political candidates to 27 percent who favor Republicans, but the 19-point gap is smaller than the average 30-point gap Democrats enjoy in the other states.
Among Hispanics living in the states other than Texas, 51 percent lean Democratic and 21 percent choose Republicans, the poll said.
The findings complicate suggestions Texas will soon become a "blue" Democratic state, Gallup said.
The poll was based on telephone interviews Dec. 31, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014, with 16,028 Hispanics nationwide, including 2,536 Hispanics living in Texas, in a random national sample of 178,527 adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has a sampling error of 1 percent.
