The public opinion of the Latino community is an understudied area within the political science literature. This analysis contributes to this literature by investigating the role of group consciousness across both Latino salient and general policy areas utilizing the 1999 Washington Post/Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation National Survey of Latinos. By including both issue areas that are salient to the Latino community (immigration, bilingual education) as well as those that are not directly tied to Latinos (abortion, death penalty), I test the primary hypothesis that group consciousness has a greater impact on Latino political attitudes across issues that are directly tied to ethnicity than on those that are not. Results from this analysis support the overall theory, as perceived discrimination motivates public opinion toward both immigration and bilingual education, and collective action toward immigration. Among other factors, nativity and the length of time lived in the U.S. have the greatest influence on Latino public opinion.

In an electoral system governed by the plurality rule, those groups who wield the greatest amount of power in the United States are those who vote as a cohesive bloc. Although the size of the Latino population is growing, it is unclear whether all Latinos perceive a shared collective identity that will be exercised in the political realm. This study uses the Latino National Survey, a nationally representative telephone survey of 8,600 Latino adults, to examine how individual Latinos perceive their personal fates and the fate of their national origin group with the larger panethnic community. The authors utilize ordered logistic regression analysis to test their hypotheses regarding the impact of immigration experiences, race, and socioeconomic status on Latino linked fate. Results suggest that linked fate for Latinos may be a temporary phenomenon, as linked fate for Latinos appears to be based on marginalization derived from economic status and immigration experiences.

There are approximately 40 million Latinos living in the United States, which represents 13.7% of the U.S. population. Despite the growing attention the newly titled largest minority group has yielded, there is still a large question of whether this community can translate demographics into political influence. This study attempts to add to this literature by testing dominant theories of political participation in conjunction with the concept of group consciousness utilizing the 1999 Kaiser/Post National Survey of Latinos. Through the use of measures for all dimensions of group consciousness across multiple Latino subgroups, this analysis helps to clarify the role of group consciousness in Latino political behavior. Through an examination of the relationship between group consciousness and political participation across both voting and Latinospecific activities, this study suggests that group consciousness is more meaningful in the context of political activities that are directly tied to the Latino community.

Objective. Currently, Latinos and African Americans constitute more than one-quarter of the U.S. population. The sheer size of these groups suggests an opportunity for increased political influence, with this opportunity providing the incentive for greater social and political interaction between them. The objective of this article is to determine the role of Latino group consciousness in the formation of attitudes toward African Americans. Methods. Utilizing data from the 1999 Washington Post/Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation National Survey on Latinos, a multivariate ordered logit model is employed to test the relationship between Latino group consciousness and perceptions of commonality with African Americans. Results. Results show that group consciousness in the form of Latino internal commonality and perceived discrimination are contributors to Latino perceptions of commonality with African Americans. Conclusion. This analysis demonstrates that before any meaningful political alliances can be formed between the nation's two largest minority groups, Latinos may need to develop strong levels of panethnic identity.

The United States is experiencing a renewed period of immigration and immigrant policy activity as well as heightened enforcement of such policies. This intensified activity can affect various aspects of immigrant health, including mental health. We use the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2015 Latino National Health and Immigration Survey ( = 1,493) to examine the relationship between immigration and immigrant policy and Latino health and well-being. We estimate a series of categorical regression models and find that there are negative health consequences associated with Latinos' perceptions of living in states with unfavorable anti-immigration laws, including reporting poor health and problems with mental health. This article builds on the work of public health scholars who have found a link between this heightened policy environment and the mental health of immigrants, yet expands on this research by finding that the health consequences associated with immigration policy extend to Latinos broadly, not just immigrants. These findings are relevant to scholars of immigration and health policy as well as policy makers who should consider these negative effects on the immigrant community during their decision-making process.