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Half of Hispanic Protestants identify themselves with the Democratic Party, which rose from 43 percent in 2004, according to a spring study by the Paul B. Henry Institute at Calvin College. At the same time, Hispanic Protestants who considered themselves Republican dropped from 37 percent to 16 percent between 2004 and 2008.

McCain's sponsorship of immigration-reform legislation seems not to trump perception of the Republican Party as a whole, said Mark Silk, professor of religion in public life at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

"Latino Protestants were not Democrats, and they were not really Republicans. They were sort of looking for a home," Silk said. "It's striking that after Bush, who made real inroads in that part of the Latino population in 2004, the Republicans blew it."

Hispanic Protestants will be an important voting bloc in states where the race is expected to be closely contested, such as New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Florida.

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The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and Religion News Service also reported on the survey.

Newsweek and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel also recently wrote about Hispanic evangelicals.

Christianity Today previously wrote about Hispanic evangelicals moving away from the Democratic Party.

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October (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52