PHOENIX (By Kristi Keck, CNN) July 5, 2010 — Each election cycle is dubbed "the year" — a time when Hispanics will show up at the polls in droves and transform the political landscape.

President Obama's renewed push last week for immigration reform has brought with it renewed expectations for the Hispanic vote.

The issue is considered one of symbolic and substantive importance for the community. Four out of five undocumented immigrants are from Mexico or another part of Latin America, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

While voter turnout among the Hispanic community has risen in recent years, the adage there's "strength in numbers" has yet to manifest itself.

"Hispanics are not punching at their weight," said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center. "Their share of voters doesn't quite match their share in the general population."

At 15.8 percent of the population, Hispanics constitute the largest minority group in the United States. African-Americans make up 12.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Census Bureau. In 2008, turnout for black voters was 65.2 percent and 67.2 percent for white voters. For Hispanics, turnout was 49.9 percent, according to Pew.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story, experts said.

"The issue is not that Hispanics are disinterested in politics," said David Leal, an associate professor of government who focuses on Hispanic politics at the University of Texas at Austin. "Instead, Hispanic turnout reflects the larger underlying factors that structure the vote for everyone."

The main factors affecting turnout among Hispanics apply to all racial and ethnic groups: Many are under the age of 18, and many occupy relatively low rungs on the educational and occupational ladders. No matter what one's ethnicity, those determinants will have a negative impact on turnout, Leal said.

Hispanic influence in elections, however, has seen a steady increase over the past 20 years. Participation in 2008 was up 2.7 percent from the 2004 election, and is growing faster than any other group.

Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, a public policy analysis group, said there are two reasons for the upward march: Hispanics are the fastest-growing group demographically, and for the past generation, there's been a strong push to improve participation.

Still, he said, claims Hispanics played a major role in swinging the presidential election for Obama were "over-reported." Hispanics have a solid enough population to swing state and local elections, but "Hispanics alone can't swing presidential elections," he said.

Obama captured about 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008, compared with President Bush's 44 percent in 2004.

Leal said people tend to overestimate the influence of the Hispanic vote when they focus on population growth.

"While Hispanics may be the largest and fastest-growing minority group, the key word in that description is minority," he said. "The best way to assess their political influence is probably not whether they are regularly deciding presidential elections."

In 2008, Hispanics were more a part of a winning coalition for Obama than they were responsible for swinging it for him, Leal said.

"They may have made the difference in a few closely divided states, but when states are that closely divided, many groups can probably claim credit," he added.

As the Hispanic vote grows, so do efforts to court the community. Candidates zigzag through districts to woo voters, but they often end up insulting them instead, said Marytza Sanz, president of Hispanic Leadership Inc.

"You come and talk piñata politics. You speak Spanish. You have arroz con pollo and then you drink cafe con leche — and you think you already know my community," Sanz said.

"The Hispanic community needs the same things any other community needs. We need to purchase homes, we need good health care, we need good roads, good schools," she added.

Hispanics on the whole lean liberal, but for the most part, the community views the policy agenda the same way as other groups, Leal said.

"It has not been the case Hispanics rank issues such as bilingual education, immigration reform and affirmative action as the most important in America. Hispanics have generally prioritized the same basic issues that everyone else sees as important," he said.

A Pew study released before the 2008 presidential election indicated Hispanics placed immigration second to last on a list of seven policy priorities. The economy, education and health care were ranked as far more important.

But in the months since Arizona passed an immigration law that critics say could lead to racial profiling, more recent surveys have indicated the issue has risen to the top for Hispanics. A survey commissioned by the National Association of Hispanic Elected and Appointed Officials indicates the immigration debate has made Hispanics more likely to vote in November.

In a high profile speech last week, Obama called on Congress to take action on the issue, but several senior Democratic sources told CNN they still see virtually no chance of Congress taking up immigration reform before the midterm elections.

Still, the sources said it was politically crucial for the president to give such a speech to put pressure on Republicans and reassure angry Hispanic voters that Democrats haven't forgotten about this issue.

In addition to being an important substantive issue for Hispanics, immigration is also considered a "symbolic issue of significant importance," said David Ayón, a political analyst and senior research associate at the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

"That's the subtext to the whole immigration issue in Washington. Will Hispanics turn out for Obama's re-election the way they did for his election?" he asked.

Voter participation is down across the board in midterm elections, but Gonzalez said among Hispanics, turnout is especially unpredictable right now.

"Going into 2010 and 2012, there is a big question mark on Hispanic behavior," he said. "Hispanics have suffered so badly from the economic depression. Hispanics are very angry about the immigration debate, and we're getting killed in home foreclosures."

The Obama administration is supported by Hispanics, but the community also is expecting something in return for its vote, he said.

"Hispanic voters are not like independents who go back and forth. ... They don't swing Republican. They get mad and stay home," Gonzalez said.

And unless the party in power delivers on immigration reform, Gonzalez said that going into 2010, "If I was the Democrats, I would be very concerned."