Immigration News 2014: Immigrant Democrats Are More Conservative Than US-Born Counterparts, Says Partnership for a New American Economy Study
The Partnership for a New American Economy kicked off a new Hispanic Engagement Campaign Wednesday in order to highlight the idea that Hispanics are able to align with both the Republican and Democratic party, depending on the issues.
In coordination with The Latino Coalition and the American Principles in Action Latino Partnership, the Partnership revealed a study that shows that the votes of these immigrants and their native-born counterparts show no allegiance to one party or candidate.
The breakdown from the study showed that 50 percent of foreign born voters do not identify with either political party, and of those who identify as Democrats, 24 percent are more conservative in comparison to 11 percent of similar U.S.-born Democrats.
John Feinblatt, chairman of the Partnership, said that the results of the report show that the conventional ideas that immigrant voters vote Democratic are not true.
"Our findings show that immigrant voters hold a diverse set of views and looking ahead to the 2016 election it is imperative that candidates and parties on both sides of the aisle appeal to this growing and politically unaffiliated population," he said.
The study looked at such aspects as religious views, and whether or not political views aligned similarly with foreign-born citizens versus native-born.
"Sixty-three percent of native-born individuals who attend church once a week or more identify as Republicans or independents. Among immigrants, the equivalent figure is 51 percent. Similarly, 38 percent of the U.S.-born Evangelical or born-again Christian population identifies as Republican. Among immigrant Evangelicals, that figure is only 26 percent," the study revealed.
Alfonso Aguilar, Executive Director of the American Principles in Action Latino Partnership, which is also part of a new coalition with the Partnership, and former Chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship in the George W. Bush administration, said that the idea that immigrants vote only one way has been instrumental in causing the delay in immigration reform.
"As this study shows, immigrants are very conservative and I'm sure that if Republicans engage them they will respond favorably to their message," Aguilar said.
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