Indeed, early polling suggests that Rubio would have little effect on the GOP’s share of the Hispanic vote. In the latest McClatchy-Marist poll, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are evenly matched in a head-to-head match-up, 46 percent to 44 percent. The more important thing, however, is that Romney beats Obama among Latinos, 48 percent to 37 percent.
That changes when you add Rubio and Biden to the ticket, respectively. In that scenario, Obama takes 50 percent of the Latino vote—a 13 point gain—while Romney’s performances drops by 2 percent. Of course, the usual caveats apply—slight differences in sampling can result in big changes in poll results. Still, it says something that Romney loses support when Rubio is on the ticket.
