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Latinos disapprove by a 2-to-1 ratio of how the Obama administration is handling record numbers of deportations, but that doesn't appear to be damaging the president's chances at capturing their votes in the 2012 election.

A Pew Hispanic Center study, released Wednesday, showed President Barack Obama leading potential GOP challenger Mitt Romney 68 percent to 23 percent among Latino voters.

The survey provides nuggets for both political parties as the election heads into full swing with the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

Michael Clara, chairman of the Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly, said Wednesdaythe party needs to do better getting its message across that the GOP isn't hostile to Latinos — more so on a national level than on a state level.

Clara noted that Democrats failed to pass the DREAM Act when they had control of both the House and Senate during the first two years of Obama's term and that Republicans have a long record of helping Latinos both nationally and within Utah.

He said Utah Republicans led the way on in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and pushed through a driving privilege card as well as passing HB116, a guest-worker law that won't take effect until 2013 despite objections by critics that it is unconstitutional.

"If you look at the balance sheet on this, [Ronald] Reagan passed amnesty, [George W.] Bush was ready to push comprehensive immigration reform — which was stopped after 9/11 happened," Clara said. "At the end of the day, I believe Republicans have a good record on the issues."

Still, only 12 percent of Latinos viewed Republicans positively while 45 percent saw Democrats as the preferred party.

A chunk of the center's 66-page report focused on the record number of deportations ordered by the Obama administration — averaging 400,000 a year since 2009 — and it discovered 59 percent of Latinos believe the president has handled the problem poorly.

With those negative attitudes, Obama also has seen his job approval rating among registered Latino voters fall to 54 percent in 2011, down from 63 percent in 2010.

Despite those numbers, Obama still holds an edge over his Republican rivals in hypothetical presidential matchups going into the 2012 election year.

Besides topping Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, 68 percent to 23 percent among Latinos, Obama also crushes Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 69 percent to 23 percent.

The survey didn't feature a hypothetical showdown with ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Zach Hudson, spokesman for the Nevada Democratic Party, said the numbers aren't surprising and disputed Clara's claim that blame for the failure of the DREAM Act could be laid at his party's feet.

"Republicans have fought the DREAM Act, they've fought comprehensive immigration reform and at a time we're focused on jobs, they've been focused on everything but jobs," Hudson said. "I think Latino voters are going to have a very clear choice and understand Democrats are on the right side of the issues."

Hudson said Democrats in the Silver State — which went for Obama in 2008 by 12.5 percentage points — will use its January caucus to engage voter registration drives as a part of an outreach plan for Latino voters.

But Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, said large swaths of Latinos aren't yet paying attention to the election season and won't likely do so until a few months before the election.

"These numbers are going to be soft until there is a Republican candidate, and then people will focus," he said. "These numbers are like a false positive, because they sit on a shaky foundation. That foundation is they're very unhappy with Obama's performance. His approval rating is low. There are a lot of moving pieces."

The survey also asked respondents about the issues most important to them and about half ranked jobs, education and health care as the most significant. Immigration was mentioned by about a third of those polled.

The Pew Hispanic Center poll, conducted in both English and Spanish between Nov. 9 and Dec. 7, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

dmontero@sltrib.com Twitter: @davemontero