Linguistic Media and Latino Democratic Attitudes: An Online Survey Experiment

• In Event: News Bias, Representation and Accountability

Abstract

Do linguistic media ecosystems shape democratic attitudes? Our preliminary analysis of survey data from the 2016 CMPS shows that greater reliance upon Spanish language media for news relates positively to a battery of indicators of trust in government and political efficacy among Latino respondents. In other words, Latinos who consume Spanish language news appear to hold more democratic attitudes. We argue that consumption of Spanish language news bolsters these attitudes, and explore two factors that offer potential explanations for this relationship: a greater emphasis on Latino interest issues in Spanish language media, and less partisan coverage in Spanish language media. To establish whether the relationship is causal, and isolate a clear theoretical mechanism, we conducted an online survey experiment involving 1000 bilingual Latino respondents using the survey firm Lucid. The experiment (a 3x3 factorial design with a control group) involved the manipulation of partisanship (no partisanship/anti-Democrat messaging/anti-Republican messaging) and references to issues (pro-immigration/anti-immigration/infrastructure), with the expectation that references to immigration should have a positive effect on Latino democratic attitudes, but only when they are pro-attitudinal. We find that participants exposed to stimuli with neutral and pro-attitudinal messages on immigration expressed greater trust in government and greater political efficacy than those exposed to stimuli that discussed infrastructure. Those exposed to anti-attitudinal messages expressed the least trust and efficacy, an effect amplified when the topic was immigration. These findings lend some support both to the idea that emphasis of Latino interest issues and a lack of oppositional partisan coverage in the Spanish language media ecosystem contribute to more democratic attitudes among Latinos.

Authors

• Walter Wilson, University of Texas, San Antonio

• Bryan Gervais, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Robert R. Preuhs, Metropolitan State University of Denver

• Roberto Carlos, University of Georgia