Hispanics Back Gay Marriage at Same Rates as Whites (Nate Silver)

[FreeState]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/hispanics-back-gay-marriage-at-same.html

There is a somewhat persistent conservative myth that Hispanic voters are vehemently opposed to gay marriage. Although a majority of Hispanics are probably are opposed to gay marriage -- as most (though no longer all) surveys suggest are a majority of Americans in general -- Hispanics appear to be no more opposed to gay marriage than are whites.

The following table contains data on all 2009 surveys I could find that break out support for gay marriage among Hispanic respondents. This includes one national survey, one California survey, and three New York Surveys. In addition, I include two prominent surveys from 2008: the exit poll from California's November 4 vote on Proposition 8, and the General Social Survey, which was conducted throughout last year. Next to each survey, I indicate the number of Hispanics in the sample (estimated values are marked with an asterisk) and the attendant margin of error; I then average the results from all eight polls, weighed based on their number of Hispanics in the sample.



The Prop 8 exit poll reported that 47 percent of Hispanics voted 'no' on Proposition 8 (indicating their support for gay marriage) as opposed to 51 percent of whites; the difference is not statistically significant given the sample size. Each of the other surveys indicate that Hispanics support gay marriage at almost exactly the same rates as non-Hispanic whites, except for a recent Quinnipiac national poll, which actually has them supporting gay marriage at significantly higher rate than whites.

If we aggregate the eight polls and weight by sample size, we find essentially no difference in support for gay marriage between Hispanic and white voters. (Please note that the 47 percent figure you see should not be read to mean that this is the number of Hispanics who support gay marriage nationwide, since the average includes a disproportionate number of respondents from New York and California, two very liberal states -- the relative support for gay marriage is all we're examining here).....

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. our very catholic hispanic neighbours are very nice to us.

i know this is purely anecdotal but of all races that have harrassed us, its never been hispanics.

[FreeState]

2. Im in San Diego - so Im surrounded by hispanics:)

I've yet to encounter any anti-gay sentiment from any of my hispanic friends or their acquaintances. Mexican Americans tend to be very open and supportive in general. (Granted I live in the gay ghetto so its not likely people live here if they have a huge issue with GLBT persons.)

You'd probably know much better than I since Im as white as white can be, but I find it interesting to see which immigrants seem to transition into society quicker than others. It seems to me that minorities that come from other countries that seek "privilege" over freedom dont support civil rights in general (for example Russian Evangelicals). Am I off base here?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. i dont know. i think white immigrants have a different expectation from nonwhite immigrants

and people are different to their own

for instance most people from the indian subcontinent would ignore a white gay couple but would be likely to harrass and indian gay couple.

hope that makes some sorta sense, i am super duper exhausted today

[FreeState]

5. Yes that makes sense - we see things from our personal history and culture

(I was just listening to a Buddhist/Dhamma talk on this today - about how we can never see things clearly until we remove our own cultural and historical rose colored glasses). Thats why Im 100% sure I dont get how newcomers to this country see things - even if they are 2nd generation there is still cultural influences on their views. I guess the trick is not only understanding where people stand on the issues but why they have the views they have - and then we can work on education and movement towards equality from within their line of thinking. (The same could be said about White Americans - we as a community need to do much better at educating all segments of society about our issues in a way they will understand and embrace.)

[Chovexani]

4. One of our big local Spanish-language newspapers in NYC

Had a beautiful editorial in favor of marriage equality. I have to hunt down the translation I found, but it was basically saying that Latin@s have a responsibility to help those who are discriminated against, particularly in their own communities--who are even more vulnerable.

It was making me pine for a similar editorial in the Amsterdam News.

[FreeState]

6. If you find it Id love to read it! n/t