An Investigation of Latino Participation in Politics Essay -- Politica

An investigation of Latino Participation in Politics This research examines the disjuncture betwixt Hispanic strength in cosmos and Hispanic participation in politics. I examine the nature of this disjuncture its severity, its causes, and its consequences. Hispanics currently comprise 11.2% of the U.S. population, and the Hispanic vote in the 1998 elections comprised only 4.7% of all ballots cast. The situation is til now bleaker when considering Hispanic representation in Congress. Currently, less than four percent of U.S. domicil members are Latino. Add to that clear disjuncture the fact that two of the Hispanic Congressmen do non even possess the ability to vote and that there is not a single Hispanic Senator, and we see that Hispanics lack a substantial voice in lawmaking.1 Surely, the scarcity of Hispanic voters who vote accounts for more than of this under-representation in Washington, D.C.Since the number of Hispanic voters severely understates recent Hispanic populati on increases in the last two decades, an in-depth investigation into the possible explanations of this disjuncture is mandatory in order to ensure Hispanics achieve a more supple voice in American government. Yet, the causes of this disjuncture are not tardily collapsed into a single explanation. Why do Latino participation levels not reflect relative strength in population? Is the discrepancy callable mainly to the traditionally wretched socioeconomic characteristics of many minority adults, or is it due more to Latino-specific issues of language barriers and non-citizenship statuses? In this work, I investigate these central questions in an analysis of Hispanic political behavior.Previous ResearchA contemporary explanation of political participation is perha... ...3 Question 43 from LNPS (ICPSR heap 6841)4 Respondents were asked if they speak more Spanish than English, are equally bilingual, or speak more English than Spanish. Question 46 from LNPS How noticeable is your dear for the U.S.? Is it extremely/very/somewhat or not very strong?7 For a demonstrative case study, see coverage of the 1996 & 1998 congressional race between Loretta Sanchez and Bob Dornan for Californias 46th govern seat. 8 Negative values in the beta weights and t-score values of agree bilingual and support immigration may reflect the phraseology and response coding of survey questions 163 and 167b, in which responses are coded from strong support to low support.9 I refer here to the anti-immigration referendums of the late 1990s, like suggestion 187 and 209 in California.10 U.S. Census Bureau projections (1999)