Young and working-class Latina voters in California care more about protecting immigrant communities and fighting President Trump’s agenda than their male counterparts, according to a UCLA study.
The findings from researchers at the university’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute illustrate how gender can correlate with differences in policy views among California Latinos, who account for about a third of the state’s eligible voters.
Study co-author G. Cristina Mora noted that while the Latino population tends to vote Democratic overall, the community is far from a monolith and there are valuable insights to be gleaned from analyzing the difference in policy views among population subgroups.
This is especially important considering that the Latino population has the largest gap between eligible voters and actual voters among any racial or ethnic group in California, she added.
“If I were working for an immigration rights group, or something like that, I’d be thinking, ‘I really need to get the working class Latina voters up to the polls,’” said Mora, a co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. “‘I really need to reach them,’ is what this sort of report would imply to me.”
The study, based on a May UC Berkeley IGS poll of 1,912 Latino registered voters in California, found that Latinas under 30 tend to hold more progressive views on topics such as immigration, voting rights and opposing Trump than Latino men in the same age group.
For example, 82% of Latina voters under 30 said that fighting the Trump agenda is “very important to them,” compared to 52% of young Latino men. Meanwhile, 88% of young Latina voters said protecting immigrant communities is very important, compared to 60% of young Latino men.
The study found a similar divergence in opinions among working-class Latino voters.
There was a 22 percentage-point gap in the concern for immigrant communities expressed by Latinos without a bachelor’s degree, with 73% of women in this group saying the issue was very important, compared to 51% of men.
However, the gender gap is not uniform.
For example, there was no notable difference between the views of Latino men and women over 60 on the topics of fighting the Trump and administration and protecting immigrant communities. The gender gap also narrowed considerably when looking at political preferences among college-educated Latino men and women.
Mike Madrid, a political consultant and expert on Latino voting patterns, cautioned against viewing divergent Latino political attitudes as driven predominantly by gender. His decades of research indicate that other variables have a larger influence.
“I think that generational differences and educational differences are as important, or more important, than gender differences because they’re so correlative to voting behavior,” he said.
For example, when it comes to the difference in opinions of Latino voters under 30, he pointed out that Latinas attend college at a higher rate than Latino men — and that obtaining a college degree is associated with holding more progressive views. It makes sense, then, that young Latinas would lean more progressive than their male counterparts.
“There’s no question that gender is a correlate [of differing views], but it’s likely not the cause,” he said. “The single largest demarcation in political attitudes in the country at this moment is what we call the education divide.”
Nonetheless, the data also showed that Latinas without a college education are also more progressive than their male counterparts.
Mora hypothesized that differences in workplace environments may help explain why women in this group tend to have more left-leaning outlooks on topics such as immigration and countering Trump.
Many working-class Latinas work in jobs that serve the community, such as in the childcare, elder care, teaching or social services sectors.
“This is probably going to put them in touch with lots of other Latinos of different migration statuses in a way that is not necessarily about competition, but much more about helping,” Mora said.
Latina voters are also more connected with the broader immigrant community through involvement in churches and PTA groups, she noted.
Working-class Latino men, on the other hand, are more likely to work in fields such as construction or security where they may feel a sense of economic competition from undocumented workers, leading them to have a less supportive view of protecting immigrants, she suggested.
She also noted that social media and the growth of “manosphere” influencers likely play a role in spreading more conservative views among young Latinos.
Mindy Romero — director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, a nonpartisan research organization — said that one of the key takeaways of the study is that it emphasizes the array of views held by different groups of Latino voters, demonstrating that there is a opening for both political parties to make their case and gain supporters.
“There are a ton of potential Latino voters that never receive any sort of outreach,” she said. “Those are just votes left on the table.”
Madrid also noted there is space for both political parties to make inroads among Latino voters, as the voting bloc is not characterized by partisan loyalty.
While immigration is a notable issue for Latino voters, the cost of living — and the failure of both parties to improve it — is the most important topic in most households, he said.
“The most overwhelming factor that’s going to reshape the next decade or generation of Latino politics is what I’m characterizing as a realignment,” he said, “this movement away from both parties [due to] the lack of confidence in either political party to make measurable, meaningful results in their lives.”
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