If every eligible Latino in the country voted, President Obama would be reelected in a landslide.
Latino support for the president hovers above 70 percent nationwide, and is very strong in critical swing states like Nevada, Colorado and Florida.
Because of growing Latino support and turnout, New Mexico went for Obama in 2008, and will again this year.
But Latinos have some of the lowest turnout of any ethnic group. Latinos are also the youngest ethnic group, so even though Hispanics make up 18 percent of the population, half of those are under the age of 18.
Both Colorado and Nevada are important swing states, with nine and six electoral votes, respectively. The Obama campaign has spent twice as much as the Romney campaign on Spanish-language television ads in the states, and it looks like it's paying off.
Both states are leaning toward Obama, though Nevada does moreso. While neither state will decide the election on its own, like Ohio might, they are integral to Romney's backup plan if he can't win Ohio.
Romney looks likely to take Florida, despite Obama support among Latinos there. Florida Hispanics tend to be more conservative, given the large number of anti-Castro Cubans. Popular Republican Senator Marco Rubio, himself a Cuban-American, stumps for Romney in the state.
Fortunately for Obama, Florida won't play as large a role in the outcome of the election this year as it did in 2000, when a few hundred votes in Miami-Dade County gave George W. Bush the state, the Electoral College, and the White House.
In general, Latinos favor Obama over Romney because of the president's support for a deportation deferment act that offers work permits to young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
Romney has said he will end the program if elected, and he does not support the DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for those young immigrants who complete schooling or military service.
While Romney does have the support of Latino evangelicals, most Hispanics are still Catholic, and a new Pew Research poll shows that more than half of Latinos support same-sex marriage, an issue Obama recently began officially supporting.
More than 50,000 Latinos reach voting age every month, so whatever the outcome of this year's election, Republicans will need to find a way to win over Hispanic support if they want to remain a majority party in this country.
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