In an analysis of exit polls conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, Barack Obama carried 71% of the Latino vote in Tuesday’s election.  While Democratic candidates have long held an advantage with the Latino electorate, Obama had the second highest advantage with 44% more Latino votes than Mitt Romney.  Bill Clinton takes top billing with the highest advantage among Latinos in 1996 (51%), while the Democratic candidate with the lowest advantage was John Kerry in 2004 (18%).

In addition, the 2012 Presidential race shows more Hispanic support for Obama than 2008, up eight points since the 2008 election.  Also of note, the Hispanic electorate is growing (Latinos made up 8% of the population in 2008, 10% in 2012), making them a salient group of voters in the battleground states of Florida, Nevada and Colorado.  In each of these states, Latino voters comprised more of the voting population than in 2008, up one point in Colorado, two points in Arizona, and three points in Florida.

Other interesting trends within the Latino population show that Hispanic women favored Obama as compared to men (76% to 65%); younger Hispanics were more inclined than older Latinos to vote for Obama (18-29 at 74%, 65+ at 65%); Hispanics will no college degree voted Democrat more than college graduates (75% to 62%); those who made less than $50,000 a favored Democrats more than those who earned above $50,000 (82% to 59%).