redefining america: findings from the 2006 latino national survey luis r. fraga

Redefining America: Findings from the 2006 Latino National Survey

Luis R. FragaStanford University

University of Washington

John A. GarciaUniversity of Arizona

Rodney E. HeroUniversity of Notre Dame

Michael Jones-CorreaCornell University

Valerie Martinez-EbersTexas Christian University

Gary M. SeguraUniversity of Washington

Sources of Funding

• Annie E. Casey Foundation• Carnegie Corporation• Ford Foundation• Hewlett Foundation• Irvine Foundation• Joyce Foundation• Kellogg Foundation• National Science Foundation• Russell Sage Foundation• Texas A&M University: MALRC, PERG

Percent Hispanic of U.S. Population, 1960-2030

3.64.8

6.9

9.7

13.2

16.4

19.3

22.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Source: Chapter 2. Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies. Adapted from Figure 2-2.

Per

cent

Hispanic Births and Net Immigration by Decade: 1960-2030

2.61.3

3.2 34.4

5.57

8.19.2

7.6

11.2

7.3

13.4

8.1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1960-70 1970-80 1980-90 1990-2000

2000-10 2010-20 2020-30

Births Immigration

Source: Chapter 2. Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies. Adapted from Figure 2-1.

Mill

ions

Assimilation, Values, and IdentityAssimilation, Values, and Identity

Latino Diversity

Census Bureau (American Community Survey, Released August 2006)

Mexican 63.9%Puerto Rican 9%Cuban 3.5%Salvadoran 2.9%Dominican 2.7%Guatemalan 1.7%Colombian 1.8%ALL OTHERS 14.3%

Native-born (not Island-born): 35.4%Foreign-born 61%Island-born PR 3.6%

No high school diploma 43%College graduate 11.1%

Latino National Survey (unweighted N)Summer 2006

*Mexican 66.1% (5704)*Puerto Rican 9.5% (822)*Cuban 4.9% (420)*Salvadoran 4.7% (407)*Dominican 3.9% (335)*Guatemalan 1.7% (149)*Colombian 1.6% (139)*All Others 7.6%

*Native-born 28.4% (2450)*Foreign-born (adults) 66.2% (5717)*Island-born PR 5.4% (467)

*No high school diploma 37%*College graduate 16.2%

44 million Latinos in the US

Language Proficiencyacross Generations

1st Gen 2nd Gen 3rd Gen 4th Gen

Answered in English

19.2 73.7 90.4 91.3

Answered in Spanish, Speak

English

19.1 19.5 8.2 7.7

Total Share with English Proficiency

38.3 93.2 98.6 99.0

Retain Spanish Proficiency

99.2 91.6 68.7 60.5

• Strong English dominance and nearly universal English proficiency among the first-generation of US born;

• Generally strong Spanish retention, aided by refreshed populations of Spanish-speakers.

Importance of Learning English/ Retaining Spanish across Generations

1st Gen 2nd Gen 3rd Gen 4th Gen

How important do you think it is that everyone in the United States learn English?

Somewhat 5.2 8.6 11.8 11.6

Very 94.1 89.3 86.1 84.0

How important do you think it is for you or your family to maintain the ability to speak Spanish?

Somewhat 9.7 13.7 17.9 22.2

Very 88.6 84.4 73.0 66.7

Sense of American and Home-Country IdentityAcross Generations

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

How strongly do you think of yourself as “American”?

Somewhat Strongly 28.7 25.1 15.2 16.3

Very Strongly24.5 56.9 78.5 76.4

How strongly do you think of yourself as (Mexican, Cuban, etc)?

Somewhat Strongly 19.6 22.2 26.1 34.3

Very Strongly 67.6 64.3 45.1 40.5

Attention to US and “Home Country” Politics and Public Affairs

• Attention to US politics is strong, even among the foreign born, and approaches (and in some cases surpasses) levels for all other groups, among Latinos born in the US.

• While about 57% of foreign born respondents agree that they should be able to vote in home country elections, only about 4% have ever done so, and about 58% report paying little or no attention to politics back home.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Attention to/Interest in US politics

Somewhat or Very Interested 60.0 73.9 79.2 81.3

Attention to/Interest in “Home-Country” politics

Little or No Attention Paid 57.5 61.0 72.8 72.8

Preferences for Cultural Assimilation and Distinctness

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Importance of Changing to Blend into Larger Society

Somewhat 26.2 33.3 34.7 37.5

Very 61.4 44.6 40.6 35.7

Importance of Maintaining Distinct Culture

Somewhat 16.2 18.3 20.3 26.1

Very 78.6 75.8 72.9 66.7

• Support for blending into the larger culture and for maintaining a distinct culture are positively related (r=.1415):•Not seen as an either/or proposition

Civic and Political Civic and Political ParticipationParticipation

Latino Interest in Politics(in percentages)

All US Born Naturalized Non- Respondents Citizens Citizens Citizens

Not Interested 32 21 28 41

Somewhat Interested 48 50 48 48

Very Interested 20 29 24 1

QUESTION: How interested are you in politics and public affairs? Would you say you are very interested, somewhat interested or not at all interested?

Civic Engagement Among Naturalized and Non- Citizens

(in percentages)All US Born Naturalized Non-

Respondents Citizens Citizens Citizens

Groupparticipation 19 29 23 10

Contactsofficials 30 45 37 17

Organizationalproblem-solving 43 46 43 42

Multiple contactsw/ officials 25 20 19 31

Patterns of Partisanship

Overall U.S. Born Puerto Rico Born Outside

U.S.

Democrat 42.1 55.9 56.3 33.9

Republican 21.5 26.0 22.9 18.8

Independent 8.1 5.6 3.1 10.0

Don’t Care 12.7 4.8 5.5 17.4

Don’t Know 15.6 8.6 12.7 20.0

Citizenship and Issue Positions:Problem Facing the Country

Citizen Non-citizen

Iraq War 30.0 33.2

Economy 14.7 12.4

Illegal Immigration 8.4 14.8

Education/ Schools 4.2 4.7

Other 12.4 6.6

“What do you think is THE one most important problem facing the country today?”

Partisanship and Issue Positions:Problem Facing the Country

Democrat Republican Independent

Iraq War 33.8 25.1 25.8

Economy 15.0 14.6 14.5

Illegal Immigration 6.9 9.0 10.6

Education/ Schools 5.4 4.5 5.0

Other 11.7 17.3 16.1

“What do you think is THE one most important problem facing the country today?”

Partisanship and Issue Positions:Preferred Party to Address Problem Facing Country

Democrats Republicans Neither Don’t Know

Democrat 39.4 7.4 43.1 10.1

Republican 14.6 26.2 46.3 13.0

Independent 12.1 6.8 63.8 17.2

Don’t Care 6.2 3.9 54.2 35.7

Don’t Know 6.1 4.8 48.5 40.6

“Which political party do you think has a better approach to address this problem?”

Latino Linked Fate

Do Latinos see their futures, and those of their national origin group, linked to that of other Latinos? YES

Mex indiv.

Mex group

Cuban indiv.

Cuban group

PR indiv.

PR group

Nothing 14.3 7.1 18.4 13.4 22.1 11.3

Little 15.3 13.2 11.9 8.6 15.3 14.1

Some 24.6 25.8 20.5 22.2 21.7 28.5

A Lot 39.2 46.8 36.3 43.7 34.1 38.5

How much does your “doing well” depend on other Latinos/Hispanics also doing well? How much does [national origin] “doing well” …?

Contributing Factors to Latino Linked Fate

Perceived commonality1 Latino Linked Fate

• Nativity 67.4/62.9 • Language Use 67.9/61.7 • Linked fate w/ African. Amer. 74.3/58.6 • Partisan Identity 74.5/61.2• Linked fate w/ Latinos 73.7/46.1• Race/ethnicity of co-workers 66.6/63.3

1 The set of percentages represents Latino respondents who indicated some or a lot of commonality for native/foreign born, English/Spanish speakers. For the linked fate percentages, it is some/a lot vs. little/nothing. For partisan, it is partisans vs. non-partisans. And coworkers represent mixed group of coworkers vs. only Latinos.

IMMIGRATION POLICY

Preferred I mmigration Policy Regarding Undocumented I mmigrants, by Generation

54

25

10

28

24

44

14

7

11

13

47

14

11

1215

47

14

11

12

31

12

4

9

43Immediate Legalization

Guest Worker Program with Legalization

Guest Worker Program, Temporary

Secure Border

None

Preferred Immigration Policy by Generation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

ImmediateLegalization

Guest WorkerLegaliz

Guest Worker Seal Border None of These

Preferred Immigration Policy

Perc

en

t w

ith

in G

en

era

tion

Preferred Immigration Policy First

Preferred Immigration PolicySecond

Preferred Immigration Policy Third

Preferred Immigration Policy Fourth

Preferred Immigration Policy All

Latinos in the Midwest:

Public Policy and Issues

Latinos’ and their Schools

• Grading the Schools• Participation in the Schools

Grade Given to Community Schools

Grade Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

________________________________A 32.0 27.0 32.0 44.6

B 38.1 38.0 52.2 35.5

C 19.0 26.2 10.7 13.9

D 5.3 4.3 2.5

F 5.5 4.3 4.9 3.2

Kids in School

Level Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa Aspir. Expect. Aspir. Expect. Aspir. Expect. Aspir.

Expect.

High Sch./ 4.0 14.1 8.0 7.2 7.4 19.9 8.2 20.7GED

Vocational 2.2 4.4 1.7 3.4 0.0 2.3 1.4 2.7

College 38.8 41.4 37.6 38.9 39.1 33.8 39.6 42.5

Advanced/ 54.8 39.8 52.5 39.5 53.4 43.8 50.7 33.8Professional

Has Met with Child’s Teacher

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________

Yes 90.9 93.0 92.6 90.8

No 9.0 6.9 7.3 9.1

DK 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Refused 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Has Attended PTA Meeting

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

____________________________________________

Yes 74.0 71.8 72.8 67.6

No 25.5 27.6 24.7 31.7

DK 0.3 0.5 2.4 0.6

Ref 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Has Acted as School Volunteer

Nation Chi metro Ill other Iowa

_______________________________________

Yes 52.7 52.6 45.5 53.8

No 47.0 47.3 54.4 46.1

DK 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Ref 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Contact with School Officials

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________________

No good contact 11.5 14.8 10.16.8

Good contact 88.2 88.9 89.793.1

Attitude of Public Toward Latino Immigrants

Iowa_______________________________________

Very/somewhat unwelcoming 43.5

Welcoming/very welcoming 54.0

Dk/Rf 3.2

Most Important National Problem

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

___________________________________

Economy 13.4 18.3 17.1 9.7Unemp. 4.4 5.3 1.5 6.3Illegal imm. 11.3 12.5 16.0 14.9Other 9.6 9.0 8.2 9.8Iraq war 31.4 28.1 23.7 33.0DK/Ref 13.4 11.4 18.7 12.3

Most Important Problem for Latinos

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Economy 6.7 6.5 9.2 4.0Unemployment 12.1 12.6 10.1 12.0Education 9.0 13.6 8.8 4.2Illegal Imm. 29.7 28.7 28.3 31.6Something else 11.5 11.9 11.6 14.8Race relations 4.5 2.8 3.0 5.5DK/Ref 17.5 14.3 16.9 18.1

Fair Treatment by Police?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

______________________________________

Yes 48.2 50.5 48.1 48.2

No 39.5 38.9 42.1 40.0

DK 12.2 10.4 9.6 11.6

Keep Troops in Iraq as Long as Necessary to Stabilize

Nation Chi metro Ill other Iowa

______________________________________________

Oppose 59.9 64.2 61.0 55.1

Support 24.3 19.6 24.0 28.0

Not Sure 15.5 15.9 14.7 16.6

Government Should Provide Incometo Those Who Need It

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________

Oppose11.3 12.1 9.5 8.8

Support80.1 77.8 84.9 82.5

Not Sure 8.5 9.8 5.3 8.4

Current Health Care System Needs Government Intervention

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________________Oppose 8.1 7.4 9.4 7.8

Support 82.4 81.2 77.9 81.2

Not sure 9.3 11.2 12.4 10.8

Undocumented Immigrants Should be Charged Higher College Tuition

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa_____________________________________________

Oppose 78.2 72.4 85.9 78.6

Support 14.2 11.3 11.6 14.1

Not Sure 7.4 6.0 2.2 7.1

Use of Matricula Consular as Acceptable Form of ID for Immigrants

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa____________________________________________

Oppose 18.8 11.6 11.5 17.9

Support 65.3 76.1 82.8 66.7

Not Sure 15.8 12.1 5.4 15.2

Use Standardized Tests for Grade Promotion/High School Graduation

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________

Oppose27.8 24.8 25.4 28.9

Support55.0 54.3 56.9 56.2

Not Sure 16.9 20.8 17.6 14.7

Fund Public Schools so All Have Same Amount Per Student

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Oppose 7.2 3.5 10.0 7.9

Support 82.8 86.2 78.8 81.2

Not Sure 9.8 10.0 11.0 10.7

School Vouchers for Private School, Even if Takes Away from Public Schools

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Oppose 37.9 30.7 23.6 45.6

Support 46.3 52.4 61.4 42.7

Not Sure 15.6 16.7 14.8 11.5

Replace Multi-year Bilingual Instruction with English Only After One Year

Nation Chi metro Ill other Iowa

_______________________________________Oppose 42.8 47.6 39.2 49.9

Support 44.0 39.0 50.5 37.1

Not Sure 12.9 13.1 10.1 12.8

Government Should Provide Income Support to Those Who Cannot Adequately

Support Themselves

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Oppose 12.0 8.9 14.5 12.9

Support 75.6 80.4 82.2 76.6

Not Sure 12.2 10.4 3.1 10.3

Same Sex Couples

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Legally Marry 19.8 22.4 19.7 22.4

Civil Union 7.0 7.6 10.0 6.4

No Legal 32.1 22.6 18.0 31.7Recognition

DK 40.9 47.2 52.1 39.4

Abortion Should Be…

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa_______________________________________

Legal in All 10.5 12.8 11.0 5.8Circumstances

Legal in Most 7.4 8.6 6.1 8.4Circumstances

Legal When 48.2 47.2 46.1 53.2Necessary to SaveMother

Illegal 20.1 14.7 22.0 19.6

Unsure 13.6 16.5 14.6 12.8

Public Health Clinics/Hospitals in Spanish in Your Community?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Yes 79.9 83.3 71.4 77.1

No 12.0 9.1 23.6 16.2

DK 6.9 6.3 4.9 5.9

Refused 1.0 1.2 0.0 0.6

Police/Law enforcement, Courts/Legal Representation in Spanish?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Yes 69.4 67.2 64.1 61.8

No 17.3 19.11 25.4 25.7

DK 12.0 11.9 10.3 11.5

Refused 1.1 1.7 0.0 0.7

Information from Public Schools in Spanish?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

______________________________________Yes 78.0 83.8 75.4 75.5

No 11.4 8.5 15.0 16.0

DK 9.2 6.3 9.5 7.6

Refused 1.2 1.2 0.0 0.7

Neighborhood Impacted by Pollution, Toxic Waste, Landfills?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________No 65.2 67.4 70.1 71.6

Yes 29.3 25.0 26.6 25.1

DK 5.3 7.4 3.1 3.0

Pollution, Toxic Waste More, Less, or Equally Likely to be Located in Minority

Neighborhoods?

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

______________________________________

More/Equally 50.2 51.6 60.4 52.5

Likely

Less Likely 28.5 27.9 19.8 28.6

DK/Ref 21.1 20.4 19.6 18.6

Your Views: ImmigrantsEffects on American Society

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Strengthen 91.0 95.3 94.7 92.5Country

A Burden 8.9 4.6 5.2 7.4On Country

Preferred Immigration Policy Proposals

Nation Chi metro other Ill Iowa

_______________________________________Legalization 42.5 45.1 46.3 41.1

Guest worker 31.4 33.7 32.4 32.9Leading tolegalization

Guest worker 11.6 8.8 8.6 13.0Permits legalizationClose border 4.5 3.3 3.8 3.2

None 9.7 8.7 8.7 9.6

Additional Information Regarding

Latino National Survey

Latino National Survey

• Executive Summary• Demographic Tables• Background Tables

• Questionnaire and Toplines

Available at the website of the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Sexuality (WISER),

University of Washington, Seattle:

http://depts.washington.edu/uwiser/LNS.shtml