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Objectives To evaluate the impact of protests on Latinos' perceptions of commonality and competition with African Americans. We hypothesize that the reinforcement and politicization of in-group identities leads to greater identification and sense of commonality with other marginalized racial/ethnic groups. Methods This study utilizes geocoded Latino National Survey data combined with an expanded protest event data set to estimate the effect of temporal and spatial proximity to immigrant rights protests on Latinos' perceptions of commonality and competition with African Americans using ordered logistic regression models. Results The findings suggest that respondents' proximity to marches had a positive impact on Latino perceptions of commonality with African Americans. The results also show that proximity to protests did not lead to an increase in feelings of competition with African Americans except in the case of electoral representation. Conclusions Examining temporal and spatial effects of protests improves our understanding of how protests can influence public opinion and how protests can influence identities and group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using original survey data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Survey (CCES), we examine variation in racial and ethnic group and partisan attitudes toward legislators and representation. Respondents were asked about their views on descriptive representation, its importance for their own elected official, and whether it was important to have more descriptive representatives in general. Using respondents’ personal characteristics such as education, partisanship, race, ethnicity, income, and race and ethnicity of their House of Representatives member, we analyze the impact of these variables on attitudes toward representation. We find that Latino and Black respondents place a high level of importance on having descriptive representatives in their own districts in addition to articulating a high degree of importance to having more representatives from their respective group. However, Latino Republicans place less importance on descriptive representation overall than Latino non-Republican respondents. Non-Latino Republicans also place importance on more legislators of their same race or ethnicity. The findings have implications for democratic governance as the demographics of the United States rapidly changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using an original data set of roll call votes and bill co-sponsorships across three high salience issues (immigration, labor, and education) and one low salience issue (social security), this article analyzes the 111th Congress to assess representation of Latinos. Partisanship is the key determinant in member behavior on voting, not the member’s race or ethnicity or constituent demographics. For bill co-sponsorships, Latino members are only more active on high salience issue areas compared with non-Latino members. Increases in Latino population do not influence behavior. The results also indicate that African American and Democratic legislators offer Latinos considerable amounts of substantive representation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information on Arizona's immigration legislation SB 1070, which criminalizes failure to carry proof of legal immigration status as a state misdemeanor.

Objectives To determine the role of linked fate, cultural factors, and experiences with discrimination on support for descriptive representation among Latinos. Methods Utilizing data from the Latino National Survey (2006) and ordered logistic regression this article analyzes the impact of Latino-linked fate, cultural factors, and personal and group experiences with discrimination on desire for Latino representation. Results A higher sense of attachment to Latino-linked fate and Spanish results in a greater desire for Latino representatives. Similarly, Latinos who believed Latinos suffered from group discrimination were in greater support of Latino representatives. Conclusions By examining descriptive representation from the perspective of how Latinos feel, this investigation improves our understanding of how attachment to a linked fate, language, and experiences with discrimination work to influence support for Latino representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article utilizes data from the Latino National Survey (2006) to analyze temporal and spatial variation in the effects of the immigrant rights marches in 2006 on Latino attitudes towards trust in government and self-efficacy. Using a unique protest dataset, we examine the effects of proximity and scale by mapping respondents' specific geographic location against the location of the marches as well as size of the protests using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). We find that local proximity to small marches had a positive impact on feelings of efficacy, whereas large-scale protests led to lower feelings of efficacy. The results shed light on the role localized political events can play in shaping feelings towards government, the importance of conceptions of space and time to the study of social movements, and the positive outcomes that can result from contentious politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Assess Latino support past, present, and future for President Obama and his policies, and the role of the Latino vote in the 2012 election. Methods Examine Latino voting patterns, administrative decisions and legislation enacted by President Obama affecting Latinos, and Latino public opinion polls to evaluate potential support for Obama by Latinos. Results Despite disappointment and anger over immigration policy by President Obama, Latinos still indicate high levels of support for him and willingness to vote for him in the 2012 elections. Obama has demonstrated his commitment to issues salient to the Latino community in addition to appointing a large number of Latinos to top-ranking government positions. The influence of the Latino vote in 2012 is dependent on voter mobilization in competitive places. Conclusion Latinos in the 2012 election could play a significant role in the presidential race but also in congressional races if they turn out in high numbers in competitive places to ensure their numbers result in influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]