Poll: Latinos see poor GOP minority outreach

A new CNN/ORC International poll released Friday finds Latino voters don't think the Republican Party has done a good job reaching out to minorities and the Democratic Party cares more about people like them, agree with them on important issues and can improve economic conditions.

Friday's release shows that only 33 percent of likely Latino voters think the GOP has done a good job reaching out to minorities compared to the 77 percent who think Democrats have done a good job.

The poll also indicates 69 percent of likely Latino voters believe the Democratic Party cares more about people like them while only 24 percent say the GOP cares more than the Democrats do.

The survey -- taken entirely before Wednesday's first presidential debate in Denver -- also shows 62 percent of Latinos think the Democratic Party can help to improve economic conditions. Only 32 percent think the Republican Party can better fix the economy.

Friday's survey comes after a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday showed President Barack Obama retaining a significant lead over rival Mitt Romney in the key voting demographic-- 70 percent to Romney's 26 percent--matching the level of support he received from Latinos in 2008.

Tuesday's poll also showed Latinos rating the economy, rather than immigration, as a more important issue facing the country, and indicated enthusiasm in the election among Latinos is lower than it is among non-Latino whites.

More recently, a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday shows Latinos are more optimistic about the economy than non-Latino whites, but six in 10 see the economy in poor shape.

Latino voters are considered an especially important demographic in the 2012 campaign and are being courted heavily by both parties, especially in swing states with higher Latino populations like Colorado, Nevada and Florida.

The CNN poll released Friday was conducted by ORC International from Sept. 25 through Oct. 1 and consisted of 601 interviews with adult Latino likely voters conducted by telephone in English and Spanish. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.