Monday, April 05, 2004

Poll shows Hispanics favor death penalty

And lots of other things as well...

The skinny:

MIAMI, April 5 (UPI) -- A poll released Monday by The Miami Herald shows that Hispanics throughout the United States support the death penalty and prayer in schools.

But the same poll, conducted by Zogby International, showed they were divided on the abortion issue and on giving undocumented immigrants government aid such as Medicaid and food stamps.

It was part of the same poll that showed Sunday that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., led President Bush by 58-33 percent. The Herald noted that most strategists believe that Kerry must hold Bush's Hispanic vote under 35 percent to win the election.

Monday's poll showed that 72 percent of Hispanics either strongly or somewhat support the death penalty and they support prayer in schools by a 59-39 percent margin.

They split 49-49 percent on the abortion issue despite their primarily Catholic background.

They also were divided on giving federal aid to illegal aliens. Forty-nine percent opposed it and 48 percent were in favor.

The poll was conducted March 29-31 among 1,000 Hispanic-American who are likely to vote. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percent.