Most Latinos reside in places where their votes won’t make a big difference in the outcome – states like California, Texas and New York, said demographer Roberto Suro.

In battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, “there’s not a Latino vote to speak of,” explained Roberto Suro, former Pew demographer and current director of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California who spoke at a New America event this week. “ The Latino vote could really shift the election in Colorado and Nevada, where more than 10 percent of voters are Hispanics.
Although Suro’s numbers paint a picture of an emerging – rather than present – dominance, he acknowledges that Latinos in swing states still may have the power to decide this election, if only by a hair. In a close race, a four to five percent shift in Colorado’s Latino vote, for example, could move the final numbers enough to tip the scales in a particular candidate’s favor.