More than 6.6 Latinos voted in the fall of 2010, representing 6.9 percent of all voters, a record for a midterm election.
A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center shows that growth in the Hispanic population fueled the rise in voters. The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S.–compared to 35.3 a decade prior. Not all of those individuals can vote–many are too young or are non-citizens–but the number of eligible voters did jump from 13.2 million in 2000 to 21.3 million in 2010.
More than a third of the Latino population is under the voting age of 18, while an additional 22 percent are of voting age but are not citizens.
Over all, Hispanics make up 16.3 percent of the nation’s population but only 10.1 percent of eligible voters. But not all of those who can vote do so. In the 2010 midterm elections less than seven percent actually cast ballots.
