A third of Latinos say their finances are in "excellent" or "good" shape, an improvement of more than a third more than last year, according to a Pew Research Center study.
Their ebullience about finances seemed to translate into optimism about the United States in general. More than half of Hispanics surveyed in September and early October said they are satisfied with the direction of the country, compared with 31 percent of the general public.
The study says a lot about the uneven nature of the recovery, which is being felt strongly among one of the nation's hardest-hit minority populations. It may say even more about the outcome the election on Tuesday.
If President Barack Obama hangs onto his lead in Nevada and New Mexico on Election Day and pulls off wins in nearly evenly split Florida and Colorado, his victories will be owed in great part to the strength of his support from Latino voters — despite Obama's failure to address immigration reform in the past four years, a cause that drives many Latinos' interest in national elections.