Mexican American Community Attitudes

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

2. “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.

3. Where are We? • Competing notions of politics • 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

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

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Most Important Issue Facing Nation & Latinos, 2000: Mexican Americans

10. 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

11. Most Important Issue: Latinos and Mexican Americans, 2004

12. 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

13. 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

14. Mexican American Ideology

15. 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

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

17. 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

18. 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?