Posted on 08/07/2003 6:54:00 AM PDT by bedolido
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Hispanics have a bright outlook on life in the United States, feel enfranchised, and do not feel particularly discriminated against, a New York Times / CBS News poll conducted in July shows.
Perhaps the most important information uncovered by the poll relates to Hispanics' relative ease with the ethnic situation in the United States. 64% of respondents said that there has never been any specific instance when they felt discriminated against because of their ethnicity, compared to 25% of non-Hispanic blacks who felt that way and 71% of non-Hispanic whites.
Fully 75% of Hispanics felt that their opportunities to succeed in life are better than their parents', compared to 56% of non-Hispanics and 67% of non-Hispanic blacks. Only 5% felt that their opportunities would be worse, less than half the percentage of non-Hispanics who felt that way.
75% of Hispanics also felt that the next generation of Americans will have it even better, compared to only 37% of non-Hispanics and 47% of non-Hispanic blacks.
Ironically, Hispanics are more optimistic about their own future than non-Hispanics are about Hispanics' future. A full third of Hispanics felt that they have a better chance of "getting ahead" in America than most other ethnic groups, compared to 19% of non-Hispanics (regarding Hispanics). Only 15% of Hispanics felt that they would have it worse off.
Only 2% of Hispanic respondents said that racism/prejudice is worse in the United States than in their nation of origin. 16% said that nothing in the United States is worse than in their nation of origin.
These statistics should be encouraging for Republicans, who usually fare better when allegations of racism and discrimination are taken off of the table. Democrat attempts to race-bait cannot be effective when such accusations ring hollow among their intended audience.
Hispanics are also more likely to feel listened to by the government than non-Hispanics. 17% of Hispanics said they had a "good deal" of say about what the government does, compared with 9% of non-Hispanics. 40% felt that they did not have much say in the government's decisions, compared to about 60% of non-Hispanics.
By far the most important reason Hispanic respondents gave for coming to the United States was the economic opportunity here. 66% said that economic opportunities in the U.S. are better than in their home country.
Hispanics generally view themselves as taking jobs that other Americans don't want (82%), rather than taking jobs that could go to other Americans (9%). While a majority of Americans also hold this view, about 33% of non-Hispanics felt that Hispanic immigrants take jobs that would ordinarily go to other Americans.
Hispanics do value the English language and want their children to be taught it in school, the poll found. 29% favored English immersion and 68% favored English immersion after about 1 year of instruction in Spanish. Only 1% favored instruction exclusively in Spanish.
Hispanics also do not appear to want the government to do more to provide social services in Spanish. 48% felt that the government is already making the right amount of effort, and 23% felt that the U.S. is actually making too much effort to provide Spanish-language services.
Fully 36% of Hispanics polled said that they did not intend to apply for U.S. citizenship, compared to 29% with plans to apply and 10% currently applying. 23% were already American citizens.
Yet Hispanic immigrants tend to identify more strongly with the United States (59%) than with their country of origin (21%), and more than 70% return to their nation of origin less than once a year or not at all. Less than 40% regularly send money back home.
Ironically, Hispanics tend to be more positive about the media's portrayal of so-called "Hispanic issues" than non-Hispanics. 64% of Hispanics felt that the national media portray Hispanics accurately, compared to 35% of non-Hispanic whites and 28% of non-Hispanic blacks.
Half of Hispanics felt that entertainment shows portray them accurately, compared to 29% who felt that such shows portrayed them too negatively and 9% who felt such portrayals were too positive.
The strong majority of Hispanic respondents were Mexican in origin (62%). Other respondents hailed from Puerto Rico (7%), El Salvador (4%), Spain (4%), Cuba (3%), the Dominican Republic (3%), and other Central and South American nations.
57% were foreign born, and 71% of foreign-born respondents hailed from Mexico. Most foreign-born Hispanics said they have lived in the United States for less than 20 years.
Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
"Dammit, if we can't make them understand that they're victims they're going to think they don't need us. Quick, let's find a hate crime somewhere against a Hispanic and put our media guys on it."
Spain is in South America? I wonder why South Americans are called "Hispanic" or "Latin". They are mostly Native American with some Spanish. Now that they've lived in North America "Hispanic" includes mixtures of white, asian, black. They are melting agents in America's melting pot. In a few generations we will all have to be called Americans.
Those must be the ones who went to college and graduated with a degree in Latino studies or sociology or Marxist economics or somesuch. Or at least is related to somebody who has been indoctrinated in some way.
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