A new survey has found that the nation’s Hispanic population exploded by 47 percent and the state’s grew by 28 percent from 2000 to 2011, underscoring the growing political muscle Latinos showed in the 2012 elections.

New Mexico’s 972,204 Hispanics made up 46.7 percent of state residents in 2011, up from 42 percent in 2000, according to a report by the Pew Research Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C

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