Sylvia Manzano

Mobilization, Participation, and Solidaridad: Latino Participation in the 2006 Immigration Protest Rallies

This article tests multiple hypotheses regarding participation in the 2006 immigration rallies in American cities. Specifically, the authors test whether the movement was widespread among Latinos or limited to Mexican immigrants, as speculated by the media, or whether group solidarity can be credited with mobilizing participation and support of Latino citizens for a largely immigrant cause. The consistent findings using both qualitative and quantitative approaches provide robust support for the conclusion that Latino support for the protests was strong across the population as a strong sense of solidarity unified the population around the immigration issue.

Take One for the Team? Limits of Shared Ethnicity and Candidate Preferences

This study tests the theory of politicized ethnic identity’s shaping Latino political behavior. The authors consider whether candidate quality moderates the effects of political ethnic attachments on co-ethnic candidate preferences. Ordered logistic regression models are developed to predict Latino voter preferences for co-ethnic candidates with varied degrees of qualification. Candidate quality significantly mitigates collective ethnic political behavior, yet the authors find Latinos with strong ethnic attachments remain inclined to prefer a co-ethnic even when less qualified than a non-Latino candidate. Political ethnic identity theory is useful in explaining minority political behavior, but there are boundaries to collective identity’s shaping political preferences.

“Should They Dance with the One Who Brung 'Em?” Latinos and the 2008 Presidential Election

Although Latinos have grown substantially as a percent of the American population to now comprise the largest ethnic-racial minority group in the U.S., whether or not this national population growth can translate into direct political influence in presidential elections has always been unclear (DeSipio 1996 ; Fraga and Ramirez 2003–04 ). At least since the 1988 election, however, scholars of Latino politics have argued that Latino voters could serve as key swing voters if certain contextual and strategic conditions existed in specific contests (Guerra 1992 ). Among these are: a competitive election in states where Latinos are a determinative segment of the electorate; strategic mobilization of Latino voters; active engagement in the election by Latino elected officials, related organizational leaders, and Latino campaign strategists; a viable Latino candidate; and issues of specific relevance to Latino voters (Guerra and Fraga 1996 ).

Tracking the Latino Gender Gap: Gender Attitudes across Sex, Borders, and Generations

Many cultural stereotypes exist regarding the “modernity” of values possessed by Latino immigrants, particularly in reference to gender norms. Common perceptions about Latin machismo and marianismo (the idea that women should be pure and moral) do not paint a portrait of gender egalitarian dispositions. These assessments are upheld by neomodernization theorists who specifically identify gender attitudes as a critical element of modernity. In applying a revised modernization theory to the issue of comparative gender values, Inglehart and Norris (2003, 10) hypothesize that development “brings about changed cultural attitudes toward gender equality in virtually any society that experiences the various forms of modernization linked with economic development.” The idea that gender equality norms develop gradually, as a function of modernization, gives rise to different expectations about accepted gender roles in developing countries as opposed to those in advanced industrial democracies. Another feature of this modernization process is the emergence of gender gaps in political behavior and attitudes. Inglehart and Norris (2000) distinguish between traditional gender gaps found in postcommunist and developing societies (in which women are more conservative in their behavior and cultural attitudes relative to men) and modern gender gaps evident in postindustrial societies (in which women are more progressive than men).

A New Measure of Group Influence in Presidential Elections: Assessing Latino Influence in 2008

The importance of the Latino electorate has been the subject of both academic inquiry and media discourses. The question of Latino influence is frequently limited by an approach that focuses on single variable considerations (e.g., voter turnout or ethnic-targeted campaign spending) that are often contest-specific idiosyncrasies. Relying on theoretically appropriate concepts, the authors measure Latino political influence as a function of three factors: in-group population traits, electoral volatility, and mobilization. Using the 2008 presidential election, the authors demonstrate the utility of incorporating a multifaceted measure that accounts for the contemporary complexity within the electoral environment. Because this framework is rooted in theoretical concepts, as opposed to discrete group or contest characteristics, it may be applied to any “influence group” in different electoral settings. Data are culled from several publicly available outlets, making it possible for scholars to replicate these measures and further investigate questions associated with group influence in American politics.

Minority group opinion in the U.S. States

As numerous pieces of past research have shown, the opinions of state residents significantly influence the politics and policies of the 50 U.S. states. This type of research flourished when aggregate-level indicators of overall state ideology and partisanship were devised from pooled national public opinion polls. This article provides an extension of such research by devising, from state surveys, aggregate-level measures of the ideological and partisan orientations of racial and ethnic minority voters, as well as that of white voters. These new data demonstrate that the opinions of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans vary across the states, and in many cases, significantly alter the political orientations of a states citizenry. These data will facilitate research that incorporates racial and ethnic diversity in the study of public opinion, U.S. state politics, and policy