Mexican American Community Attitudes Mexican Americans and Politics Lecture 9 February 7, 2006

“Will the Real Americans Please Stand Up … ?” Thesis: Test of hypothesis of whether level of acculturation shapes the probability of political incorporation. Higher levels of ethnic consciousness will reduce Mexican American political incorporation. Method: Multiple regression analysis of a survey of Mexican Americans (and other Latinos) – the Latino National Political Survey.

Where are We? Competing notions of politics Pan-ethnicity Collective expression of bridging social capital Social networks that connect different groups Institutions to increase popular participation in politics Electoral participation Pan-ethnicity Two, or more, Latino ancestry groups come into contact Discovery of a shared experience Instrumental alliance to achieve shared objectives

To Understand the Political World of any Population You need to understand Values Attitudes Behaviors Today we focus on Mexican American values and attitudes

Mexican American Political Values How do they relate to “American” political values? Economic individualism Income Housing Jobs Patriotism What role does ethnicity play in Mexican American support for economic individualism and patriotism?

Mexican Americans and Anglos Share Core Values Controlling for demographic characteristics (age and class): Few differences on economic individualism Spanish dominant somewhat more likely to see governmental role Spanish dominant Mexican Americans more patriotic than Anglos Overall similarity means that class is more important than ethnicity

The Mexican American Issue Agenda Non-Mexican Americans often ascribe issue preferences to Mexican Americans Historical Sojourners with little interest in the United States Radicals Contemporary Republican efforts to define Mexican Americans in terms of moral conservative agenda Democrat failure to distinguish between Blacks and Mexican Americans

Odd Because Mexican American Policy Agenda Consistent Agenda: incorporation of new immigrants and those previously excluded Education (at all levels) Social Services Job training Public safety Important when considering policy agenda to measure: Salience Connection to underlying values

Most Important Issue Facing Nation & Latinos, 2000: Mexican Americans Most important issue facing Latinos Education 15% 25% Race relations 4% 10% Unemployment/Jobs 6% 11% The economy 14% 9% Illegal immigration 2% Crime 7% Drugs 3%

Story Changes Somewhat in 2004 International issues take on a new prominence I suspect this is a short-term phenomenon and that social issues will continue to dominate Mexican American agenda in the future

Most Important Issue: Latinos and Mexican Americans, 2004 Other Latinos Education 16% Economy 29% 26% War on terror 18% 25% Iraq 17% 13% Crime 1% 2% Health 12% 11% Immigration 4% 3% Other

Issues That are Not Central to the Mexican American Agenda Moral conservative agenda--positions held by Mexican Americans, but top the agenda for few Pro-life Support for death penalty Prayer in schools Traditional role of women Immigration Distinction between immigration of relatives and immigration policy Remember Gutiérrez—Long-term ambivalence about new immigration in Mexican American community

Many Assume Mexican Americans to be “Liberal” They are in policy and electoral terms Willing to raise their taxes to increase government services Generally support Democratic candidates But, more likely to self-identify as “conservative” than “liberal” Liberalism and conservatism may mean different things Particularly to Mexican immigrants

Mexican American Ideology

Mexican Americans Traditionally Strong Democrats Why? Congruence on party positions and community attitudes More local Mexican American Democratic leaders and elected officials to recruit and mobilize Anti-immigrant rhetoric of some Republicans But, Bush and other Republicans have claimed that a shift is imminent Bush share of the Latino vote increased in 2004, though by how much is disputed

Mexican American Partisanship (U.S. Citizens), 1989-2004 Independent leaners counted as partisans

Evidence of Mexican American Shift to Republicans is Weak Separate question – Are Mexican Americans more likely to vote for Republican candidates than in the past We’ll return to this question when we discuss Mexican Americans and electoral politics

For Next Time What did the Voting Rights Act provide? How did these guarantees address the needs of the Mexican American community in 1975? How about today?