4 weeks until election, economy and immigration still top issues for Latinos

It has been a very busy week since our last post. The issue of immigration jumped back into the spotlight as the Whitman housekeeper saga unfolded (over days), California’s gubernatorial candidates debated on Spanish-langauge television, the posturing continued over the failed defense appropriations vote (which was more about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Dream Act than it was about the DOD), Rahm Emanuel left the White House (which immigration activists may well cheer), and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced yet another immigration bill with a lame-duck session in mind. Whether any of this has (or will have, in the coming weeks) a meaningful effect on Latino voters remains to be seen.

This week, we focus on the economy. Specifically, we introduced two new questions to the tracking poll two weeks back, so today represents our first release on these data. But before we get to that, here’s a roundup of the general trends of the week.