You Are Who You Think You Are: Linked Fate and Vote Choices among Latino Voters

Abstract

Analysts of American politics have long considered the growing power of the Latino population in the United States as a significant variable for elections. However, the assumption that Latinos will share similar political views and behaviors is, at best, unsettled with mixed results from existing studies. In this research, we use original data to test whether Latino voters are more likely to act based on the view that their individual fates are connected with those of their racial or ethnic group, or are more likely to act based on individual self‐interest. We independently test this over two elections. Our findings show that group identity is a significant predictor of voting behavior for Latinos. Related Articles Parkin, Michael, and Frances Zlotnick. 2011. “English Proficiency and Latino Participation in U.S. Elections.” Politics & Policy 39 (4): 515‐537. ://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00302.x Pearson Merkowitz, Shanna. 2012. “Aqui No Hay Oportunidades: Latino Segregation and the Keys to Political Participation.” Politics & Policy 40 (2): 258‐295. ://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00349.x Stokes‐Brown, Atiya Kai. 2009. “The Hidden Politics of Identity: Racial Self‐Identification and Latino Political Engagement.” Politics & Policy 37 (6): 1281‐1305. ://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2009.00220.x

Latinos, group identity, and equal opportunity on the 2020 California ballot

“…By 2006, the Latino National Political Survey also found that a large majority of Latinos identified with the pan‐ethnic term (Barreto and Segura 2014). The importance of not studying an entire ethnicity as a monolith has been seen through the contrasting results in elections and party affiliations, most notably the comparison between Florida Latinos and Latinos elsewhere (Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019; Yang and de la Garza 2017).…”

“…While the connections between group positions on policy issues, linked fate, and voting behavior have been studied extensively for Blacks and Whites, similar evidence for Latinos has been mixed. For one, Latinos are generally not thought to be attached as close to their group label as other groups (Bishin, Kaufmann, and Stevens 2012;Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019;Gutierrez et al 2019). There has, however, been some research suggesting that the increasing attention to the Latino electorate and the grouping of ethnic groups generally considered to be "Latino" by outsiders has built a larger and more cohesive group that could produce a "Latino vote" (Barreto and Segura 2014;Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019).…”

“…For one, Latinos are generally not thought to be attached as close to their group label as other groups (Bishin, Kaufmann, and Stevens 2012;Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019;Gutierrez et al 2019). There has, however, been some research suggesting that the increasing attention to the Latino electorate and the grouping of ethnic groups generally considered to be "Latino" by outsiders has built a larger and more cohesive group that could produce a "Latino vote" (Barreto and Segura 2014;Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019).…”

“…While the connections between group positions on policy issues, linked fate, and voting behavior have been studied extensively for Blacks and Whites, similar evidence for Latinos has been mixed. For one, Latinos are generally not thought to be attached as close to their group label as other groups (Bishin, Kaufmann, and Stevens 2012; Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019; Gutierrez et al. 2019).…”

“…2019). There has, however, been some research suggesting that the increasing attention to the Latino electorate and the grouping of ethnic groups generally considered to be “Latino” by outsiders has built a larger and more cohesive group that could produce a “Latino vote” (Barreto and Segura 2014; Escaleras, Kim, and Wagner 2019).…”