White House Senior Advisor David Plouffe sat down with CNN's Face the Nation yesterday and tried to spin President Obama's unprecedented illegal immigraton power grab from last week as "not a political move."
This is not a political move," Plouffe said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” "This builds on a lot of steps we've already taken."
"Who knows how the politics will turn out," Plouffe added. "But this decision was the right decision. Well, we'll see. I've ceased making predictions on things because we'll see how they turn out."
And Plouffe said this decision gives the Department of Homeland Security the ability to focus on criminals.
"This is fully within our ability. Again, this was an enforcement discretion decision. This is not some permanent, this is not amnesty. This is not citizenship,” he said. “This gives these hardworking kids, who are here through no fault of their own, who are going to staff our labs, start our businesses, serve in our military, a two-year period to apply for work authorization.”
(Nevermind the 8.2% unemployment rate among American citizens, Obama cuts to military jobs or shortage of lab jobs due to Obama's horrific economy)
But let's take a look at the numbers. Since taking office in 2009, President Obama has lost support of Hispanics and needed a political Hail Mary after suffering through six bad political weeks in a row and as Mitt Romney catches Obama in the polls. Not to mention, Obama's attacks on the Catholic Church through ObamaCare aren't helping him with the Hispanic vote either.
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President Obama's approval among Hispanic voters has dropped by 30 percentage points since cresting in April 2009 — but a majority still say he's doing a good job as President.
A new Ipsos-Telemundo survey finds that 56 percent of Hispanic voters approve of his job performance, while 35 percent disapprove.
This is a strong showing of support when compared to the general public but the trends are not good news for the president's team. An April 2009 survey of Hispanic voters found an 86 percent approval rating for the president, while a June 2011 survey showed approval at 62 percent.
And in swing state Florida:
Only 46% of Hispanic voters in Florida support the Commander-in-Chief for re-election against an unnamed Republican opponent, compared to 57% when Obama ran four years ago, according to a new poll.
Hispanics are a key voting bloc in Florida, and in several other swing states. The president and his Republican challenger are sure to aggressively court these voters as the general election approaches.
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