President Obama has a 52-point lead over Mitt Romney with Latino voters, according to the latest tracking poll from Latino Decisions.

The 73-to-21 percent lead, if it holds up on Election Day, would best Obama's already record margin among Latino voters from the 2008 election, and matches his widest lead since the tracking poll began in late summer.

In 2008, Obama won the Hispanic vote by 67 to 31 percent, according to exit polls. A top Romney surrogate told The Hill last summer that the campaign's goal was to win 38 percent of the nationwide Latino vote.

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Obama's poll lead is also a major impediment for Romney in states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. Romney likely needs to win Florida and Colorado to become president.

Not only does Obama have a huge edge with Latino voters, they're also showing a higher likelihood to vote than earlier this year.

According to the poll, 87 percent of registered Latino voters are planning to vote, a big jump from previous years. Fifty-nine percent say they're "very enthusiastic," with 45 percent saying they're more enthusiastic to vote this year than in 2008.

Romney's campaign has long argued that key Obama constituencies, including Latino voters, were less likely to show up this year than four years ago.



Romney's path to victory might run through Midwestern states with fewer Latinos, like Ohio and Iowa.

But if he is unable to win Colorado or Florida, that would be a huge blow to his campaign — and if these numbers are correct, that could prove very damaging for him in those states.

Romney holds a 1.5-percentage point lead over Obama in the RealClearPolitics average of polls in Florida. The two candidates are tied in Colorado, according to the RCP average.

Nevada looks like it's leaning toward Obama, according to polling and early voting results, and much of that is due to his strong support with the state's Latino voters.



The poll of 300 Latino registered voters was conducted in English and Spanish from Oct. 19-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percent.

