Determinants of Immigration Salience among Latino Voters

• In Event: Politicizing the Immigrant Experience

Abstract

What makes Latino voters think immigration is a salient issue? Although a third of US Latinos are foreign-born, and almost 3 in every 4 US Latino residents are either immigrant themselves or have at least one immediate relative who is immigrant, not all of them perceive immigration as politically relevant. Using responses from the Latino National Survey (LNS) and the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS), we test multiple theories of policy issue salience by exploring the social, political and geographical determinants of immigration salience among Latino voters. Through a series of statistical analyses, we find that in addition to traditional political measures of public opinion such as partisanship and ideology, news consumption and demographic contexts serve as strong predictors of immigration salience. More specifically, we find that Latino voters who consume Spanish-language news media, are immigrants, and live in counties with high concentrations of Latinos are significantly more likely to report immigration as a salient issue. These findings provide a valuable addition to the literature of public opinion on immigration, and contribute to our understanding of the origins of policy issue salience among ethno-racial groups in the United States.

Authors

• Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga, University of Nebraska Omaha

• Jason L. Morin, California State University, Northridge

• Gabriel Sanchez, University of New Mexico