Nearly four decades after the United States government mandated the use of the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to categorize Americans who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries, a new nationwide survey of Hispanic adults finds that these terms still haven’t been fully embraced by Hispanics themselves. A majority (51%) say they most often identify themselves by their family’s country of origin; just 24% say they prefer a pan-ethnic label.

Moreover, by a ratio of more than two-to-one (69% versus 29%), survey respondents say that the more than 50 million Latinos in the U.S. have many different cultures rather than a common culture. Respondents do, however, express a strong, shared connection to the Spanish language. More than eight-in-ten (82%) Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to continue to do so.

Hispanics are also divided over how much of a common identity they share with other Americans. About half (47%) say they consider themselves to be very different from the typical American. And just one-in-five (21%) say they use the term “American” most often to describe their identity. On these two measures, U.S.-born Hispanics (who now make up 48% of Hispanic adults in the country) express a stronger sense of affinity with other Americans and America than do immigrant Hispanics.

The survey finds that, regardless of where they were born, large majorities of Latinos say that life in the U.S. is better than in their family’s country of origin. Also, nearly nine-in-ten (87%) say it is important for immigrant Hispanics to learn English in order to succeed in the U.S.

This report explores Latinos’ attitudes about their identity; their language usage patterns; their core values; and their views about the U.S. and their families’ country of origin. It is based on findings from a national bilingual survey of 1,220 Hispanic adults conducted Nov. 9 through Dec. 7, 2011, by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. For a full description of the survey methodology, see Appendix A. (In this report, as in all Center reports, the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably).

Among the report’s key findings:

Hispanics and Identity

• When it comes to describing their identity, most Hispanics prefer their family’s country of origin over pan-ethnic terms. Half (51%) say that most often they use their family’s country of origin to describe their identity. That includes such terms as “Mexican” or “Cuban” or “Dominican,” for example. Just one-quarter (24%) say they use the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to most often to describe their identity. And 21% say they use the term “American” most often.
• “Hispanic” or “Latino”? Most don’t care—but among those who do, “Hispanic” is preferred. Half (51%) say they have no preference for either term. When a preference is expressed, “Hispanic” is preferred over “Latino” by more than a two-to-one margin—33% versus 14%.
• Most Hispanics do not see a shared common culture among U.S. Hispanics. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) say Hispanics in the U.S. have many different cultures, while 29% say Hispanics in the U.S. share a common culture.
• Most Hispanics don’t see themselves fitting into the standard racial categories used by the U.S. Census Bureau. When it comes to race, according to the Pew Hispanic survey, half (51%) of Latinos identify their race as “some other race” or volunteer “Hispanic/Latino.” Meanwhile, 36% identify their race as white, and 3% say their race is black.
• Latinos are split on whether they see themselves as a typical American. Nearly half (47%) say they are a typical American, while another 47% say they are very different from the typical American. Foreign-born Hispanics are less likely than native-born Hispanics to say they are a typical American—34% versus 66%.

The American Experience

• Hispanics say their group has been at least as successful as other minority groups in the U.S. Most Hispanics (55%) say their group is about as successful as other racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. More than one-in-five (22%) say they have been less successful, while 17% say they have been more successful.
• The U.S. is seen as better than Latinos’ countries of origin in many ways—but not in all ways. Fully 87% of Latino adults say the opportunity to get ahead is better in the U.S. than in the country of their ancestors; some 72% say the U.S. is better for raising children than their home country; nearly seven-in-ten (69%) say the poor are treated better in the U.S.; and a plurality of 44% say moral values are better here than in their homelands. However, when it comes to the strength of family ties, a plurality (39%) say the home country of their ancestors is better, while 33% say the strength of family ties is better in the U.S.
• Most Hispanic immigrants say they would migrate to the U.S. again. Some 79% of Hispanic immigrants say that if they had to do it all over again, they would come to the U.S. When asked why they came to this country, more than half (55%) of immigrant Hispanics say it was for economic reasons, while 24% say it was for family reasons.

Language Use—English and Spanish

• Most Hispanics use Spanish, but use of English rises through the generations. The survey finds that 38% of all respondents are Spanish dominant, 38% are bilingual and 24% are English dominant. Among U.S.-born Hispanics, more than half (51%) are English dominant.
• Hispanics believe learning English is important. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) Hispanics say adult Hispanic immigrants need to learn English to succeed in the U.S.
• Hispanics also want future U.S. Hispanic generations to speak Spanish. Fully 95% of Hispanics believe it is very important (75%) or somewhat important (20%) for future generations of Hispanics in the U.S. to be able to speak Spanish.

Social and Political Attitudes

• Hispanics, more so than the general public, believe in the efficacy of hard work. Three-in-four (75%) Hispanics say most people can get ahead if they work hard. By contrast, just 58% of the general public say the same.
• Levels of personal trust are lower among Latinos than they are among the general public. Fully 86% of Latinos say you can’t be too careful when it comes to dealing with people. Among the U.S. general public, just 61% say the same.
• On some social issues, Latinos hold views similar to the general public, but on others, Latinos are more conservative. Virtually identical shares of Latinos (59%) and the general public (58%) say homosexuality should be accepted by society. However, on abortion, Hispanics hold a more conservative view than the general U.S. public—half (51%) of Hispanics say it should be illegal in most or all cases, compared with 41% of the general public.
• Religion is more important in the lives of immigrant Hispanics than in the lives of native-born Hispanics. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) immigrant Hispanics say religion is very important in their lives, compared with half (49%) of U.S.-born Hispanics. Among the general population of the U.S., 58% say religion is very important in their lives.
• Latinos’ political views are more liberal than those of the general U.S. public. Three-in-ten (30%) Latinos describe their political views as liberal or very liberal, compared with 21% of the general public.

About this Report

The 2011 National Survey of Latinos (NSL) focuses on Hispanics’ identities, behaviors, views about social issues, and language use. The survey was conducted from November 9 through December 7, 2011, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 1,220 Latino adults. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish on cellular as well as landline telephones. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. Interviews were conducted for the Pew Hispanic Center by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS).

This report was written by Director Paul Taylor, Associate Director Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Research Associate Jessica Hamar Martínez, and Research Analyst Gabriel Velasco. D’Vera Cohn, Cary Funk, Rakesh Kochhar, Luis Lugo, Jeffrey Passel and Greg Smith provided comments on an earlier draft of the report. The authors thank D’Vera Cohn, Cary Funk, Leah Christian, Richard Fry, Scott Keeter, Rakesh Kochhar, Rich Morin and Kim Parker for guidance on the development of the survey instrument. Gabriel Velasco and Seth Motel provided research assistance. Eileen Patten number-checked the report topline. Seth Motel, Eileen Patten and Gabriel Velasco number-checked the report. Marcia Kramer was the copy editor.

A Note on Terminology

The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably in this report.

“Native born” or “U.S. born” refers to persons born in the United States and those born in other countries to parents at least one of whom was a U.S. citizen.

“Foreign born” refers to persons born outside of the United States to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. Foreign born also refers to those born in Puerto Rico. Although individuals born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens by birth, they are included among the foreign born because they are born into a Spanish-dominant culture and because on many points their attitudes, views and beliefs are much closer to Hispanics born abroad than to Latinos born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia, even those who identify themselves as being of Puerto Rican origin.

“First generation” refers to foreign-born people. The terms “foreign born,” “first generation” and “immigrant” are used interchangeably in this report.

“Second generation” refers to people born in the United States, with at least one first-generation parent.

“Third and higher generation” refers to people born in the United States, with both parents born in the United States. This report uses the term “third generation” as shorthand for “third and higher generation.”

Language dominance, or primary language, is a composite measure based on self-described assessments of speaking and reading abilities. “Spanish-dominant” persons are more proficient in Spanish than in English, i.e., they speak and read Spanish “very well” or “pretty well” but rate their English-speaking and reading ability lower. “Bilingual” refers to persons who are proficient in both English and Spanish. “English-dominant” persons are more proficient in English than in Spanish.

Florida Voter Registration Statistics

According to the Florida Division of Elections, final registration statistics for the state’s January 31 presidential primary show that 1,473,920 Latinos are registered to vote statewide. Overall, Latinos make up 13.1% of the state’s more than 11.2 million registered voters. Among Latino registered voters, 452,619 are registered as Republicans, making up 11.1% of all Republican registered voters. And 564,513 Latino registered voters are registered as Democrats, representing 12.4% of all Democratic registered voters.

As recently as 2006, more Hispanics in Florida were registered as Republicans than as Democrats. By 2008, the balance tipped over to the Democrats. This year that trend has accelerated, with the gap–111,894 registered voters–between Hispanics who are registered as Democrats and those registered as Republicans wider now than in 2008 or 2010.

Geographically, the majority of Hispanic Republican registered voters are located in South Florida. According to the Division of Elections, 58.5% (264,721) are in Miami-Dade County alone. By contrast, among the state’s Hispanic Democratic registered voters, a smaller share, 33.9% (191,359), are registered to vote in Miami-Dade County.

Hispanics in Florida’s Eligible Voter Population

• The Hispanic population in Florida is the third-largest in the nation. More than 4.2 million Hispanics reside in Florida, 8% of all Hispanics in the United States.
• Florida’s population is 23% Hispanic, the sixth-highest Hispanic population share nationally.
• There are 2.1 million Hispanic eligible voters in Florida—the third-largest Hispanic eligible-voter population nationally. California ranks first with 5.9 million.
• Some 16% of Florida eligible voters are Hispanic, the fifth-largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 39%.
• One-half (49%) of Hispanics in Florida are eligible to vote, ranking Florida 12th nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote. By contrast, 81% of the state’s white population is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

• Age. Florida’s Hispanic eligible voters are younger than all eligible voters in Florida—25% of Hispanic eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 versus 19% of all eligible voters.
• Citizenship. Some 43% of Hispanic eligible voters in Florida are naturalized U.S. citizens, compared with 13% of all Florida eligible voters.
• Nativity. Hispanic eligible voters in Florida are less likely to be native-born citizens (57%) than are Hispanic eligible voters nationwide (75%).
• Hispanic Origin. Hispanic eligible voters in Florida have a different country-of-origin profile from Hispanic eligible voters nationwide. One-third (32%) of Hispanic eligible voters in Florida are of Cuban origin, 28% are of Puerto Rican origin and 9% are of Mexican origin. By contrast, among Hispanic eligible voters nationwide, 59% are Mexican, 14% are Puerto Rican and 5% are Cuban.
• Educational Attainment. Two-in-ten Latino eligible voters in Florida (20%) have not completed high school. That is lower than the rate for Latino eligible voters nationwide—25%—but greater than the rate for all U.S. eligible voters (12%) or all eligible voters in Florida (13%).
• Homeownership. Two-thirds of Hispanic eligible voters in Florida (67%) live in owner-occupied homes versus 58% of Hispanic eligible voters nationwide. Somewhat greater shares of all eligible voters in Florida (71%) and all eligible voters nationwide (69%) live in owner-occupied homes.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in Florida, by Race and Ethnicity

• Number of Eligible Voters. White eligible voters outnumber both Hispanic and black eligible voters in Florida by more than 4 to 1.
• Age. Black eligible voters are younger than Hispanic or white eligible voters in Florida—28% of black eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 compared with 25% of Hispanic and 16% of white eligible voters.
• Educational Attainment. More than half (53%) of Hispanic eligible voters have attended college or earned at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 60% of white and 46% of black eligible voters.
• Homeownership. Hispanic eligible voters are less likely than white eligible voters in Florida to live in owner-occupied homes—67% versus 76%.

By a ratio of more than two-to-one (59% versus 27%), Latinos disapprove of the way the Obama administration is handling deportations of unauthorized immigrants, according to a new national survey of Latino adults by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

Deportations have reached record levels under President Obama, rising to an annual average of nearly 400,000¹ since 2009, about 30% higher than the annual average during the second term of the Bush administration and about double the annual average during George W. Bush’s first term.

Even as deportations have been rising, apprehensions of border crossers by the U.S. Border Patrol have declined by more than 70%—from 1.2 million in 2005 to 340,000 in 2011. This mirrors a sharp drop in the number of unauthorized immigrants entering the U.S. since the middle of the last decade (Passel and Cohn, 2010).

More than eight-in-ten (81%) of the nation’s estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants are of Hispanic origin, according to Pew Hispanic Center estimates (Passel and Cohn, 2011). Hispanics accounted for an even larger share of deportees in 2010—97%. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2011a).

Not all Latinos are aware that the Obama administration has stepped up deportations of unauthorized immigrants. In response to a question on the Pew Hispanic survey, a plurality (41%) of Latinos say that the Obama administration is deporting more unauthorized immigrants than the Bush administration. Slightly more than a third (36%) say the two administrations have deported about the same number of immigrants. And one-in-ten (10%) Latinos say the Obama administration has deported fewer unauthorized immigrants than the Bush administration.

Disapproval of Obama’s policy is most widespread among those who are aware that deportations have risen during his tenure. Among this group, more than three-quarters (77%) disapprove of the way his administration is handling the issue of deportations. Among those who are not aware that an increase has occurred, slightly more than half disapprove.

Awareness of the level of deportations is higher among foreign-born Hispanics than among native-born Hispanics—55% versus 25%. It is even higher among those who are most at risk of deportation. Seven-in-ten (71%) Hispanic immigrants who are not U.S. citizens and do not have a green card—a group that closely aligns with the unauthorized immigrant population²—say the Obama administration has deported more unauthorized immigrants than the Bush administration.

These findings are from a new national survey of 1,220 Hispanic adults ages 18 and older conducted by landline and cellular telephone, in English and Spanish, from November 9 through December 7, 2011. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For a full description of the survey methodology, see Appendix B.

Immigration Policy Priorities

In recent years, the debate over illegal immigration has often been posed as a choice between two competing priorities—increasing border security and enforcement or providing a path to citizenship to immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Latinos are nearly twice as likely as the general public (42% versus 24%) to say the priority should be a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

About as many Latinos as the general public (46% versus 43%) say equal priority should be given to enforcement and legalization. Just 10% of Latinos say priority should be given to better border security and enforcement, compared with 29% of the general public.

The 2012 Presidential Election and Latinos

The Pew Hispanic survey also reveals that, heading into the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama and the Democratic Party continue to enjoy strong support from Latino registered voters.

In a hypothetical match-up against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Obama wins 68% to 23% among Latino registered voters. And in a match-up against Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Obama wins the Latino vote 69% to 23%.³ These results closely match the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, when Obama carried the Latino vote over Republican John McCain by 67% to 31% (Lopez, 2008).

Even among those who disapprove of the way Obama is handling the issue of deportations, a majority support his reelection over either of these two potential Republican challengers. Obama would carry this group by 57% to 34% against Romney and 61% to 31% against Perry.

The survey also shows that identification with the Democratic Party among Hispanic registered voters remains strong. Two-thirds (67%) of Hispanic registered voters say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 20% say the same about the Republican Party.

And when asked which party has more concern for Hispanics, 45% say it’s the Democratic Party, while 12% say it’s the Republican Party. The share that identifies the Republican Party as the better party for Hispanics is up six percentage points since 2010.

Obama’s Job Rating among Hispanics

Despite Obama’s strong showing among Latinos when compared with potential 2012 Republican rivals, he has suffered a decline in his overall approval rating as president. Today 49% of Latinos approve of the job he is doing, down from 58% in 2010. Among the general public, Obama’s approval trend has been more stable during the past year (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2011a). His current rating—46%—is still somewhat lower among the general public than among Latinos, but this gap has narrowed significantly in the past year.

Among Latinos who disapprove of the Obama administration’s deportation policy, just 36% approve of the president’s overall job performance while 54% disapprove.

Top Issues for Latinos

The survey finds that jobs, education and health care are the top issues for Hispanic registered voters as they think about the upcoming presidential election. Half identify jobs as extremely important to them personally, followed closely by education (49%) and health care (45%). These top three reflect the same three issues Hispanic registered voters identified as most important in 2010 (Lopez, 2010) and in 2008 (Lopez and Minushkin, 2008).

One-third (33%) of Latino registered voters say immigration is extremely important to them personally, statistically unchanged since 2010. About a third also describes taxes and the federal budget deficit as extremely important issues.

Among the report’s other findings:

• More than half (56%) of all Latinos say they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country today, while 38% say they are satisfied. Among the general public, 78% are dissatisfied with the nation’s direction while 17% are satisfied (Pew Research Center, 2011).

Deportations

• One-quarter (24%) of all Latinos say they know someone who has been deported or detained by the federal government in the past year.
• The share of convicted criminal deportations among all deportations reached a high of 44% in 2010, up from 29% in 2008.

Immigration Policy

• Nine-in-ten (91%) Latinos support the DREAM Act, legislation that would permit young adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children to become legal residents if they go to college or serve in the military for two years.
• More than eight-in-ten (84%) Latinos say unauthorized immigrants should be eligible for in-state tuition at public colleges if they went to a high school in their state and were accepted at a public college.

The 2012 Election

• More than half (56%) of Hispanic registered voters say they have given little or no thought to the candidates who may be running for president in 2012.
• When asked about their opinion of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, more than half (54%) of Latino registered voters say they have never heard of him, can’t rate him or responded “don’t know.” Rubio, who is of Cuban ancestry, has been mentioned as a possible Republican vice presidential running mate.
• Among Latino registered voters, 35% describe their political views as conservative, 32% describe them as moderate and 28% describe their political views as liberal.

More than 6.6 million Latinos voted in last year’s election—a record for a midterm—according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Latinos also were a larger share of the electorate in 2010 than in any previous midterm election, representing 6.9% of all voters, up from 5.8% in 2006.¹

Rapid population growth has helped fuel Latinos’ increasing electoral participation. According to the Census Bureau, 50.5 million Hispanics were counted by the 2010 Census, up from 35.3 million in 2000 (Passel, Cohn and Lopez, 2011). Over the same decade, the number of Latino eligible voters—adults who are U.S. citizens—also increased, from 13.2 million in 2000 to 21.3 million in 2010.

However, even though more Latinos than ever are participating in the nation’s elections, their representation among the electorate remains below their representation in the general population. In 2010, 16.3% of the nation’s population was Latino, but only 10.1% of eligible voters and fewer than 7% of voters were Latino.

This gap is driven by two demographic factors—youth and non-citizenship. More than one third of Latinos (34.9%) are younger than the voting age of 18, a share greater than that of any other group. And an additional 22.4% are of voting age, but are not U.S. citizens. As a result, the share of the Latino population eligible to vote is smaller than it is among any other group. Just 42.7% of the nation’s Latino population is eligible to vote, while more than three-in-four (77.7%) of whites², two-thirds of blacks (67.2%) and more than half of Asians (52.8%) are eligible to vote. Even so, the number of Latino eligible voters will continue to grow in the coming decades as a steady stream of U.S. born Latinos becomes eligible to vote by turning 18—more than 600,000 did so annually between 2006 and 2010.

Yet, even among eligible voters, Latino participation rates have lagged behind that of other groups in recent elections. In 2010, 31.2% of Latino eligible voters say they voted, while nearly half (48.6%) of white eligible voters and 44.0% of black eligible voters said the same. This gap in participation—17.4 percentage points between Latinos and whites—has persisted in recent midterm election years, though it is down from a record 19.3 percentage points in 2006. A similar gap in voter turnout rates between Latinos and whites exists in presidential election years as well (Lopez and Taylor, 2009).

Latino voter turnout rates lag other groups partly because of the large share of Latino eligible voters that are under 30. In 2010, 31.3% of Latino eligible voters were ages 18 to 29, while 19.2% of white, 25.6% of black and 20.7% of Asian eligible voters were under 30. Historically, young people have voted at lower rates than older eligible voters. And among young voters, Latinos have had some of the lowest voter participation rates—in 2010 just 17.6% of young Latino eligible voters voted (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 2011). In contrast, among Latino eligible voters ages 30 and older, the voter turnout rate was higher—37.4% in 2010. However, among older voters the gap in voter turnout rates between Latinos and whites—16.9 percentage points—is nearly as large as it is between all Latino eligible voters and all white eligible voters—17.4 percentage points.

The gap in voter participation between Latinos and others is also partly due to fast growth in the number of Latinos who do not vote but are eligible to do so. Between 2006 and 2010 the number of Latino voters increased by 18.8%, but the number of Latino non-voters increased more rapidly, by 25.0%.

Just as with other populations, differences in voter turnout rates exist among Latino eligible voters. In 2010, Latino college graduates had the highest voter turnout rate (50.3%) among Latino eligible voters, while young Latinos ages 18 to 29 had the lowest (17.6%). Differences in participation rates also exist by country of origin. Nearly half (49.3%) of Cuban-origin Latinos voted in 2010 compared with 29.6% of Puerto Rican-origin Latinos and 28.7% of Mexican-origin Latinos. Similarly, a greater share of naturalized foreign-born Latinos than native-born Latinos voted—36.6% versus 29.2%.

Terminology

• Voting Age Population: Persons ages 18 and older.
• Voting Eligible Population: Persons ages 18 and older who are U.S. citizens.
• Registered Voter Population: Persons who say they were registered to vote in the 2010 election.
• Voter Population or Voter Turnout: Persons who say they voted in the November 2010 election.
• Voter Turnout Rate: Share of the voting eligible population who say they voted.

Hispanic voters are nearly three times more prevalent in states that gained congressional seats and Electoral College votes in the 2010 reapportionment than they are in states that lost seats, according to an analysis of Census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Based on averages reflecting congressional gains and losses, 15.2% of the eligible voter¹ population in states that gained seats is Hispanic, compared with just 5.4% of eligible voters in those states that lost seats.

With these reapportionment changes, Latinos likely will play a larger role in national politics in the coming decade. Two states that gained seats, Florida and Nevada, have been key swing battlegrounds in recent presidential elections (having voted for the Republican nominee in 2004 and the Democrat in 2008). In both states, Latinos are a growing share of eligible voters.

According to the Census Bureau, there were 308 million people residing in the U.S. in 2010, up 9% from 2000 (Census Bureau, 2010). Overall, based on 2009 population estimates, Hispanics accounted for more than half (51%) of that growth.² However, because many Latinos are either too young to vote or are not U.S. citizens, not all of their population growth translates into immediate electoral strength. Among the nation’s 48.4 million Hispanics in 2009, a record 20.1 million are eligible to vote. Yet an even greater number are not eligible to vote. Some 15.5 million³ Hispanics are U.S. citizens 17 years of age or younger and 12.8 million of all ages are not U.S. citizens.⁴

Even so, the number of the Latinos eligible to vote continues to grow. Since 2000, nearly 6 million more Latinos have become eligible to vote. The bulk of this growth was attributable to the 5 million U.S. born Latino youths nationwide who turned 18 during this past decade. That translates into an additional half-million U.S. born Latinos coming of age each year—a pattern that is certain to persist, and grow, in the coming decades.

No matter what happens with immigration patterns in the future, the aging of the U.S. born Latino youth bulge ensures that the electoral strength of the nation’s largest minority group will continue to grow in the coming decades. And much of that growth will take place in states that have gained congressional seats and Electoral College votes.

By their own reckoning, Latinos¹ living in the United States do not have a national leader. When asked in an open-ended question to name the person they consider “the most important Latino leader in the country today,” nearly two-thirds (64%) of Hispanic respondents said they did not know. An additional 10% said “no one.”

These findings emerge from the 2010 National Survey of Latinos, a bilingual national survey of 1,375 Hispanic adults conducted prior to this month’s mid-term elections by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

The most frequently named individual was Sonia Sotomayor, appointed last year to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some 7% of respondents said she is the most important Latino leader in the country. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) of Chicago is next at 5%. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa draws 3%, and Jorge Ramos, an anchor on Noticiero Univision, the national evening news program on the Spanish-language television network Univision, drew 2%.

No one else was named by more than 1% of respondents in the 2010 National Survey of Latinos conducted August 17 through September 19, 2010, by landline and cellular telephone. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For a full description of the survey methodology, see Appendix A.

In the November 2, 2010 elections, three Hispanics, all of them Republican, were elected to top statewide offices: Marco Rubio won a U.S. Senate seat in Florida, Brian Sandoval was elected governor of Nevada, and Susana Martinez was elected governor of New Mexico.

The prominence of these offices conceivably could provide platforms from which any of the three could emerge as national Latino leaders, but to do so they would have to overcome some strong partisan head winds. Nationwide, Latinos supported Democratic candidates for the U.S. House this month by a wide margin, according to the National Election Pool’s national exit poll—continuing a pattern of strong Latino support for Democrats that has persisted in recent elections (Lopez, 2010).

At 47 million strong, Latinos are the nation’s largest minority group, constituting more than 15% of the U.S. population. As a group, they feel increasingly targeted by ethnic bias. More than six-in-ten (61%) say that discrimination against Latinos is “a major problem” that prevents members of their ethnic group from succeeding in America (Lopez, Morin and Taylor, 2010), up from 47% who felt this way in 2002 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2002).²

At various times in American history, groups that have felt aggrieved have rallied behind leaders who championed their cause—be it a Susan B. Anthony, who led the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th century, or a Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the civil rights movement in the mid 20th century. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Cesar Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), played a similar role for Latinos, who at the time were a much smaller share of the U.S. population than they are now.

But there are often times when groups—be they ethnic, racial or political—do not have easily identifiable leaders. For example, in a national survey conducted after this month’s mid-term elections, when Republicans were asked who they think of as the leader of the Republican Party these days, 45% said they don’t know and 13% said that “nobody” leads the party (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2010).

Today, not only are most Latinos unable to name anyone they consider a national leader, but many see divisions within the Latino community between the native-born and foreign-born. About half (45%) say they believe that immigrant Latinos and native-born Latinos are working together to achieve common political goals, but a nearly identical share (46%) say they do not believe these two groups are working together (Lopez, Morin and Taylor, 2010). Both the native born³ (who comprise 47% of the adult population of Latinos) and the foreign born (who comprise 53%) are also roughly equally divided on this question.

Prominent Latinos and Leadership

The survey explored the subject of leadership in the Latino community in two different ways. The first was to present an open-ended question in which respondents were asked: “In your opinion, who is the most important Latino leader in the country today?” As reported above, nearly two-thirds said they did not know, and an additional one-in-ten said “no one.”

Later in the survey, respondents were presented with the names of eight prominent Latinos and asked if they had heard of each. Those who said they had were then asked if they considered that person to be a leader. (The sample was split in half so that each respondent was asked about four prominent individuals).

Of the eight names presented (see box), just two were familiar to a majority of respondents: Sotomayor (67%) and Ramos (59%). Four others were known by more than a quarter of respondents: Villaraigosa (44%), Gutierrez (38%), New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (35%), and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta (28%). The other two were familiar to only a small share of respondents: U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) of Tucson, Arizona (13%), and Janet Murguía, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (8%).

In the follow-up question, anywhere between one-third and two-thirds of respondents who had heard of each prominent Latino said that they considered that person to be a leader. The highest leadership “score” was received by Sotomayor. Among the 67% who said they had heard of her, some 68% said they consider her to be a leader—meaning that, when the questions are posed in this manner, a total of 45% of survey respondents (67% × 68%) consider her a leader.

Ramos is next with a leadership score of 38%, followed by Villaraigosa at 29% and Gutierrez at 23%. No one else on the list had a score above 20%.

Leadership, Nativity and Language

For the most part, immigrant Latinos are more familiar than native-born Latinos are with the names of persons presented in the survey. For example, nearly three-in-four (73%) of the foreign born said they have heard of Sotomayor, while just 59% of the native born said the same. And more than half (55%) of the foreign born have heard of Villaraigosa, while just three-in-ten (31%) of the native born said the same. Only in the case of Richardson are the foreign born and the native born equally likely to have heard of him—35% and 36% respectively.

Immigrant Hispanics are also more inclined than native-born Hispanics to say each of the eight prominent Hispanics are leaders. Sotomayor achieved a leadership score of 51% among foreign-born Hispanics, but only 38% among the native born. Ramos achieved a score of 51% among the foreign born—equal to that of Sotomayor—but he achieved a score of less than half that (23%) among native-born Hispanics.

Responses to these questions are also correlated with the preferred language of the respondent. English-dominant Hispanics are less likely than bilingual or Spanish-dominant Hispanics⁴ to have heard of each prominent Hispanic, except for Richardson and Murguía. In the case of Richardson, four-in-ten (40%) English-dominant Hispanics have heard of him, but fewer than three-in-ten (29%) Spanish-dominant Hispanics said the same. In the case of Murguía, all three groups were equally likely to say they have heard of her. Overall, Ramos (78%) is the most well known prominent Hispanic among the Spanish dominant.

Among English-dominant Latinos, Sotomayor achieved the highest leadership score (32%), followed by Richardson (15%), Villaraigosa (13%) and Gutierrez (10%). Among bilingual Latinos, Sotomayor once again has the highest leadership score—45%. She is followed by Ramos (39%), Villaraigosa (26%) and Huerta (19%).

Among Spanish-dominant Latinos, Ramos achieved the highest leadership score at 55%, followed by Sotomayor (53%), Villaraigosa (41%), Gutierrez (35%) and Huerta (21%).

Tuesday’s midterm elections were historic for Hispanics. For the first time ever, three Latino candidates—all of them Republicans—won top statewide offices. In New Mexico, voters elected the nation’s first Latina governor, Republican Susana Martinez. In Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval won the governor’s race and became Nevada’s first Hispanic governor. And in Florida, Republican Marco Rubio won the U.S. Senate race.¹

Despite these big top-of-the-ticket wins for Republican Hispanic candidates, Democratic candidates won the Latino vote, usually by wide margins. For example, according to the national House exit poll,² 60% of Latino voters supported Democratic candidates in House races while 38% supported Republican candidates.

This majority support for Democratic candidates continues a pattern among Latino voters. In 2006, according to the national exit poll, 69% of Latinos voted for Democratic candidates in their Congressional district races, while 30% supported Republicans.³ In the 2008 presidential election, Latinos supported Democrat Barack Obama by a margin of more than two-to-one over Republican John McCain—67% versus 31% according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of the national exit poll (Lopez, 2008).

The candidacies of Republicans Rubio and Sandoval drew sharply different levels of support from Latino voters. In Florida, Rubio captured 55% of the Latino vote in his race for the Senate–identical to the share of the white vote he won (55%). In Nevada, however, Sandoval won a third (33%) of the Latino vote in his race for governor; he did much better among whites, winning 62% of the vote according to the state exit poll. No exit polls were done in New Mexico, so it is not possible to analyze the voting patterns among Latinos and other groups in Martinez’s victorious gubernatorial campaign.

According to the national House exit poll, Latinos represented the same share of all voters this year that they did in 2006—8%. Overall, more than 19 million Latinos were eligible to vote⁴ in this year’s midterm elections, more than in any previous election (Lopez, 2010). Latinos also represent a growing share of all eligible voters and substantial shares of eligible voters in many states. More than 9% of eligible voters nationwide are Latino, up from 8.6% in 2006 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006).

With the exception of Florida, in states where exit polling data is available, Democratic candidates won the Latino vote, usually by wide margins. In California’s senate race, Democrat Barbara Boxer won 65% of the Latino vote while Republican Carly Fiorina won 29%. In California’s gubernatorial race, Democrat Jerry Brown won 64% of California’s Latino vote while Republican Meg Whitman won 31%. In Nevada, Latinos supported Democrat Harry Reid over Republican Sharron Angle by a greater than two-to-one margin—69% versus 30%. Latino voters in Arizona, Nevada and Texas similarly supported Democratic candidates over Republican candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races.

In Florida Hispanic voters gave greater support to Republican candidates than elsewhere. As noted above, in Florida’s Senate race, more than half (55%) of Hispanic voters supported Republican Rubio over Independent Charlie Crist (25%) and Democrat Kendrick Meek (20%). In Florida’s governor vote, 48% of Hispanic voters supported Democrat Alex Sink and half (50%) supported Republican Rick Scott, according to the state exit poll. The Hispanic vote in Florida has traditionally tilted more Republican than in other states, owing largely to the presence of the GOP-leaning Cuban-American community.

Just as in previous elections, Hispanics nationwide voted differently than white non-Hispanic voters. According to the national exit polls, white non-Hispanics supported Republican congressional candidates over Democratic candidates 60% to 37%. In 2006, half (51%) of white non-Hispanics voted for Republican candidates and 47% voted for Democratic candidates. In many state races, Republican candidates won the white non-Hispanic vote while Democratic candidates won the Latino vote.

This report contains an analysis of exit poll results for the Latino vote nationally in the U.S. House of Representatives races. It also contains an analysis of gubernatorial and Senate races in the states of Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, and the gubernatorial race in Texas.

Reweighting of the 2010 National Election Pool’s National and State Exit Polls

The vote share results shown in this report reflect updates to the National Election Pool’s national and state exit polls as of Wednesday, December 30, 2010. The reweighting resulted in changes in the Republican vs. Democratic share of the Latino U.S. House vote nationally as well as in several statewide races.

About this Report

Exit poll results for this report were obtained from CNN’s Election 2010 website and are based on the Edison Research’s national and state exit poll surveys of voters as reported on December 30, 2010. In addition to an analysis of the national Latino vote, five states were examined. These states are Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Texas.

A Note on Terminology

The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably in this report.

The terms “whites,” and “blacks” are used to refer to the non-Hispanic components of their population.

The national political backlash against illegal immigration has created new divisions among Latinos and heightened their concerns about discrimination against members of their ethnic group-including those who were born in the United States or who immigrated legally.

About four-in-five of the nation’s estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants are of Hispanic origin (Passel and Cohn, 2010). A new national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, finds that Latinos are divided over what to do with these immigrants. A small majority (53%) says they should pay a fine but not be deported. A small minority (13%) says they should be deported, and a larger minority (28%) says they should not be punished.

Hispanics are also divided about the impact of illegal immigration on Hispanics already living in the U.S. Roughly equal shares say the impact has been positive (29%), negative (31%) or made no difference (30%). This mixed judgment stands in sharp contrast to views that Latinos expressed on this subject in 2007. Back then, fully half (50%) of Latinos said the impact was positive, while just 20% said it was negative.¹

Today, more than six-in-ten (61%) Latinos say that discrimination against Hispanics is a “major problem,” up from 54% who said that in 2007. Asked to state the most important factor leading to discrimination, a plurality of 36% now cites immigration status, up from a minority of 23% who said the same in 2007. Back then, a plurality of respondents—46%—identified language skills as the biggest cause of discrimination against Hispanics (Pew Hispanic Center, 2007).

In the new survey, Latinos are also split over whether immigrant and native-born Latinos are working together to achieve common political goals. About half (45%) say they are, and half (46%) say they are not. Both the native born (who comprise 47% of the adult Latino population) and the foreign born (who comprise 53%) are roughly equally divided on their perceptions of political solidarity.

The native born and foreign born have different views on many topics explored in the survey. For example, seven-in-ten (70%) foreign-born Latinos say discrimination against Hispanics is a major problem preventing Latinos from succeeding in America. Less than half (49%) of the native born agree. And when it comes to their views of immigrants, fewer than seven-in-ten native-born Hispanics say immigrants strengthen the country, while 85% of immigrant Hispanics say the same.

At 47 million strong, Latinos are the nation’s largest minority group, comprising nearly 15% of the total U.S. population. Some 38% of all Latinos are immigrants, and an estimated 19% are unauthorized immigrants.

The findings are from a new national survey of 1,375 Latino adults conducted by landline and cellular telephone, in English and Spanish, from August 17 through September 19, 2010. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points for the full sample and larger for subgroups. For details on the survey methodology, see Appendix A.

While the survey finds differences among Latinos on several questions related to illegal immigration, it also finds many points of broad agreement—especially when it comes to enforcement policies and proposals.

For example, fully 86% of Latinos support providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if they pass background checks, pay a fine and have jobs, a level of support far greater than among the general public (68%) (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2010a). Among Latinos, about eight-in-ten (82%) of the native born and nine-in-ten (90%) of the foreign born say they support providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

On birthright citizenship, nearly eight-in-ten (78%) Latinos say the Constitution should be left as is, compared with 56% of the general public who say the same. And when it comes to who should enforce the nation’s immigration laws, more than three-quarters (77%) Latinos say it should be the exclusive responsibility of federal authorities, while just 15% say the local police should play a more active role. On both questions, the native born and the foreign born hold similar views.

Finally, the vast majority of Latinos—79%—disapprove of the first-of-its-kind Arizona law enacted this year that gives police broad powers to check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons whom they suspect may be in this country illegally.² By contrast, the general population approves of the measure by a ratio of two-to-one (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2010a).

No Increase in Reports of Discrimination

Despite Latinos’ rising concerns about suffering from a backlash triggered by illegal immigration, the new survey finds no increase over past years in the share of Latinos who report that they or someone they know have been targets of discrimination or have been stopped by the authorities and asked about their immigration status.

About a third of all Hispanics (34%) say they, a member of their family or a close friend have experienced discrimination in the past five years because of their race or ethnic group. The figure is largely unchanged from 2009, when it stood at 32% (Pew Hispanic Center, 2009). And just 5% say they have been stopped by the police or other authorities and asked about their immigration status, down from 9% who said the same in 2008 (Lopez and Minushkin, 2008).

More Satisfied with the Nation’s Direction and Their Lives

Moreover, more than a third of all Hispanics (36%) say they are satisfied with the current overall direction of the country, up from 25% who said the same in 2008 (Lopez and Minushkin, 2008). On this question, Hispanics are more upbeat than all Americans. Only about a quarter (25%) of the general public said in late summer they were satisfied with the way things in the country were going (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2010b).

When it comes to their own lives, Latinos are generally upbeat. Nearly seven-in-ten rate the quality of their lives as either “excellent” (24%) or “good” (45%), virtually unchanged from three years ago (Pew Hispanic Center, 2007).

Among the survey’s other findings:

Views of Immigrants

• Hispanics are more positive than all Americans about the impact of immigrants on the nation. Nearly eight-in-ten Hispanics (78%) say immigrants to the U.S. strengthen the country, while 13% believe these new arrivals are a burden. In contrast, all Americans are split—44% say immigrants are a strength, and 42% say they are a burden.
• Half (49%) of all Hispanics say that Americans are less accepting of immigrants now than they were five years ago. One-in-five (20%) believe Americans are more accepting, and 28% say they see no change.
• More than eight-in-ten (81%) Latinos say opportunity is better in the U.S. than in their home countries or the countries of their ancestors. This share is down from 92% in 1999 (Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University, 1999).
• Three-in-ten (30%) Latinos say that one of the reasons unauthorized immigrants come to the U.S. is to have a child here; 64% say this is not the case.

Discrimination and Deportation

• Half (52%) of Latinos say they worry “a lot” or “some” that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.
• Foreign-born Hispanics are more than twice as likely as native-born Hispanics to say they worry that they or someone they know could be deported—68% versus 32%.
• One-third (32%) of Latinos say they know someone who has been deported or detained by the federal government in the past 12 months.
• Some 45% of foreign-born Latinos who are not U.S. citizens or legal residents say they know someone who has been detained or deported by the federal government in the past 12 months. Fewer than three-in-ten (28%) of native-born Latinos say the same.

Views of Immigration Policy

• Fully 78% of Latinos say they support in-state tuition rates for unauthorized immigrant students who graduate from a high school in their state and have been accepted into a public college or university.
• Nearly three-in-four (73%) Latinos say they disapprove of workplace raids, unchanged from 2007 and 2008.
• More than six-in-ten (61%) Hispanics say they disapprove of building more fences on the nation’s borders.
• Latinos are split on whether the number of border patrol agents should be increased—48% say they approve of this idea, while 46% say they disapprove.
• A majority (58%) of Hispanics say they approve of a proposal that would require all U.S. residents to carry a national identity card.

Politics, the Immigration Policy Debate and Civic Participation

• The issue of immigration is not a top issue for all Hispanics. On a list of seven issues, it ranks fourth, behind education, jobs and health care.
• More than six-in-ten (62%) Latinos say they have talked with a family member, friend or co-worker about the immigration policy debate in the past year.
• Half (51%) of Latinos say they have more confidence in the Democratic Party’s agenda on immigration than in the Republican Party’s agenda, while 19% say they have more confidence in the Republican agenda on immigration.
• One-in-seven (15%) Hispanics say that in the past year they have participated in a protest or demonstration in support of immigration rights, down from 24% who said the same in 2006.

About this Report

The 2010 National Survey of Latinos (NSL) focuses on the views and opinions of Latinos about immigrants, illegal immigration and immigration policy. The survey was conducted from August 17 through September 19, 2010, among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 1,375 Latino adults, 542 of whom are native born and 833 of whom are foreign born. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish on cellular as well as landline telephones. For more details, see Appendix A.

Interviews were conducted for the Pew Hispanic Center by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS).

A Note on Terminology

The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably in this report, as are the terms “foreign born” and “immigrant.”

The terms “unauthorized immigrants” and “illegal immigrants” are used interchangeably in this report, as are the terms “unauthorized immigration” and “illegal immigration.”

“Native born” refers to persons who are U.S. citizens at birth, including those born in the United States, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories and those born abroad to parents at least one of whom was a U.S. citizen.

“Foreign born” refers to persons born outside of the United States, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen.

“Foreign-born U.S. citizens” refers to persons who indicate they are “foreign born” and who indicate they are U.S. citizens. The terms “foreign-born U.S. citizens” and “naturalized U.S. citizens” are used interchangeably in this report.

“Foreign-born legal residents” refers to persons who indicate they are foreign born and who say they have a green card or have been approved for one.

“Foreign born who are not legal residents and not U.S. citizens” refers to persons who indicate they are foreign born and who say they do not have a green card and have not been approved for one.

Language dominance is a composite measure based on self-described assessments of speaking and reading abilities. “Spanish-dominant” persons are more proficient in Spanish than in English, i.e., they speak and read Spanish “very well” or “pretty well” but rate their ability to speak and read English lower. “Bilingual” refers to persons who are proficient in both English and Spanish. “English-dominant” persons are more proficient in English than in Spanish.

Hispanics in Arizona’s Eligible Voter Population

• The Hispanic population in Arizona is the fifth-largest in the nation. Nearly 2 million Hispanics reside in Arizona, 4% of all Hispanics in the United States.
• The population in Arizona is 30% Hispanic, the fourth-highest Hispanic population share nationally.
• There are 766,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Arizona—the fifth-largest Hispanic eligible-voter population nationally. California ranks first with 5.4 million.
• Nearly two-in-ten (18%) of eligible voters in Arizona are Latinos, the fourth-largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 38%.
• Some 39% of Latinos in Arizona are eligible to vote, ranking Arizona 23rd nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote. In contrast, 79% of the state’s white population is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

• Age. One-third of Hispanic eligible voters in Arizona (32%) are ages 18 to 29, similar to the share of all Latino eligible voters nationwide (31%) in that age range. By contrast, only 22% of all Arizona eligible voters and 22% of all U.S. eligible voters are ages 18 to 29.
• Citizenship. Two-in-ten of Hispanic eligible voters in Arizona (18%) are naturalized U.S. citizens, compared with 7% of all Arizona eligible voters. Hispanic eligible voters in Arizona are more likely to be native-born citizens (82%) than are Hispanic eligible voters nationwide (74%).
• Educational Attainment. One-quarter of Latino eligible voters in Arizona (26%) have not completed high school, more than double the 12% of all Arizona eligible voters who have not completed high school.
• Homeownership. Two-thirds of Hispanic eligible voters in Arizona (66%) live in owner-occupied homes compared with 60% of all Hispanic eligible voters nationwide. Somewhat greater shares of all eligible voters in Arizona (71%) and all eligible voters nationwide (70%) live in owner-occupied homes.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in Arizona, by Race and Ethnicity

• Number of Latino Eligible Voters. Latino eligible voters outnumber Native American eligible voters in Arizona by more than 4 to 1 and black eligible voters by more than 5 to 1.
• Age. Latino and Native American eligible voters are younger than black and white eligible voters in Arizona. Equal shares of Latinos and Native Americans (32%) are ages 18 to 29 compared with 25% of black eligible voters and 18% of white eligible voters.
• Educational Attainment. Hispanic eligible voters have lower levels of education than do white and black eligible voters in Arizona. Some 26% of Hispanic eligible voters have not obtained at least a high school diploma compared with 13% of black eligible voters and 8% of white eligible voters.
• Homeownership. Hispanic eligible voters (66%) are more likely to live in owner-occupied homes than Native American (57%) and black (43%) eligible voters in Arizona, but they are less likely to do so than white Arizona eligible voters (75%).

Hispanics in California’s Eligible Voter Population

• The Hispanic population in California is the largest in the nation. More than 13.4 million Hispanics reside in California, 29% of all Hispanics in the United States.
• The population in California is 37% Hispanic, the second-highest Hispanic population share nationally.
• There are 5.4 million eligible Hispanic voters in California—the largest Hispanic eligible-voter population nationally. Texas ranks second with 3.8 million.
• One-quarter (24%) of eligible voters in California are Latinos, the third-largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 38%.
• Some 40% of Latinos in California are eligible to vote, ranking California 22nd nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote. In contrast, 79% of the state’s white population is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

• Age. One third of Hispanic eligible voters in California (34%) are ages 18 to 29. By contrast, only 24% of all California eligible voters, 31% of Hispanic eligible voters nationwide and 22% of all U.S. eligible voters are in that age range.
• Citizenship. Nearly three-in-ten of Hispanic eligible voters in California (28%) are naturalized U.S. citizens, compared with 19% of all California eligible voters. Nationwide, 93% of all eligible voters are citizens by birth, as are 74% of all Hispanic voters, compared with 72% of California Hispanic eligible voters.
• Educational Attainment. Among Latino eligible voters in California 27% have not completed high school, similar to the share of all Latino eligible voters nationwide. Just 13% of all California eligible voters and all eligible voters nationwide have not completed high school.
• Homeownership. Hispanic eligible voters in California are less likely as all California eligible voters to live in an owner-occupied home—59% versus 63%. In contrast, a greater share of all eligible voters nationwide (70%) live in owner-occupied homes.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in California, by Race and Ethnicity

• Number of Latino Eligible Voters. Latino eligible voters outnumber black eligible voters in California by more than 3 to 1—5.4 million versus 1.6 million. Twice as many Hispanics as Asians are eligible to vote in California—5.4 million versus 1.6 million.
• Age. In California, Latino eligible voters are younger than white, black and Asian eligible voters. More than one-in-three (34%) Latino eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 compared with 19% of white, 27% of black and 20% of Asian eligible voters.
• Citizenship. Asian eligible voters in California are more than twice as likely as Latino eligible voters to be naturalized citizens—70% versus 28%.
• Homeownership. California Latino eligible voters (59%) are less likely to live in owner-occupied homes than white (67%) and Asian (68%) eligible voters in California.