As expected, the Latino vote went two to one for now President-Elect Barack Obama, and the turn-out was high enough to help Obama win several swing states.

About 10 million Latinos voted in this election, or about 8 percent of the electorate, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Latinos make up about 15 percent of the United States’ population.

A CNN poll found that 66 percent of the nationwide Latino vote went for Obama, and in the western swing states the percentage was even higher. In Nevada, it was 76; in Colorado, 73; and in New Mexico, 69. In Florida, where Cubans still tend to vote Republican, 57 percent of Latinos voted for Obama. Obama won all of these states, in addition to North Carolina and Virginia, two southern states with significant immigrant populations that came into play for the first time in decades this year. John McCain won only 32 percent of the Latino vote nationwide, compared with 40 percent for Geroge W. Bush in 2004.

Though John McCain championed comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, he lost Latino support when he reversed his position during the Republican primary. This perceived betrayal by John McCain contributed to Barack Obama’s success, although the economic crisis was the key issue for Latinos, as it was for the rest of the country.

For more, compare this interactive map of where Latinos live with this interactive map of the election results. While not every county shows a relationship, many show an increased Latino population correlating to a higher probability of Democratic victory.

(Wikipedia photo)