Poll Shows Hispanic Voters are Optimists

Poll Shows Hispanic Voters are Optimists

WASHINGTON, April 23, 1998 -- Hispanic voters believe strongly in the traditional American dream -- but with a Latin twist, a bipartisan poll showed today.

The survey found that most Latinos think their financial circumstances are improving and are confident of future prosperity. Three out of every four Hispanic parents believe their children will be economically better off than they are, and nine out of 10 think its very important to send their kids to college.

But almost all the Hispanic respondents considered it important to sustain the Spanish language in their lives and to preserve their heritage and traditions. While only about a third spoke only Spanish in their homes, 86 percent are teaching the language to their children and 80 percent think it's important for political candidates to communicate with Hispanic voters in Spanish.

Sponsored by Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language television network, the poll found most Hispanic voters credit Democrats for putting the country on the right track and lean toward Democratic congressional candidates in the November elections.

In Texas, though, 81 percent of the respondents thought Gov. George W. Bush was doing a good job -- indicating that he could capture more of the Hispanic vote than could other Republicans in a presidential race.

The findings were presented at a symposium Thursday by co-authors Mark Penn, a Democratic pollster who works for President Clinton, and Michael Deaver, a Republican strategist who was an assistant to former President Reagan.

Their report, "The Hispanic Voter," is based on answers given by 755 voting-age Hispanics in eight major media markets: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish.

The nation's 31 million Hispanics are its fastest-growing minority.

"Hispanics provide a crucial swing vote in some of the nation's biggest states," said Penn, adding that the findings boded well for Democrats.

Two out of every three respondents approved of the job Democrats are doing in Congress, for instance, compared to 43 percent approval for congressional Republicans. Over 80 percent approve of the job Clinton is doing as president, and 62 percent think the Democratic Party best represents their views, compared to 24 percent for Republicans.

In a dramatic difference of opinion with many Republicans, 67 percent of the Hispanic respondents said they "strongly support" bilingual education programs.

However, Hispanic voters were better attuned with Republicans on several issues: 73 percent support school prayer, 84 percent back tuition vouchers, 43 percent think abortion is killing an unborn child and should be against the law, and sizable segments cited the weakening of family values, crime and violence and safer schools as their major concerns.

"I don't think Hispanics are predestined to vote for any particular party," said Deaver. But he conceded that Republicans have failed to even define themselves to these voters.

"They have to do it with a simple, clear, concise message," he said. "And they have to do it over and over again."

The survey was released at a conference on "The Power of the Hispanic Vote" that Univision sponsored for political consultants, advertising agencies, media buyers and other campaign strategists.

Hispanic voters are a rapidly growing political force but is concentrated in a few states, explained Antonio Gonzales, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Project. For example, 53 percent of all Hispanic voters live in California and Texas, he said.

In Texas, about 16.6 percent of the voters are Hispanic, up from 14.1 percent in 1990, he said. And a growing number of these voters rely on Spanish-language media for their news.

Former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros, now president of Univision, said the Hispanic population is providing nearly half of the nation's total population growth. In less than a decade, Latinos will overtake blacks as the largest minority group in the country.

"By 2050, a quarter of the U.S. population could well be of Hispanic heritage," Cisneros said.

The survey indicated Republicans can win over Hispanic voters. In Texas, for instance, the approval ratings are almost identical for Republican Gov. Bush and Democratic President Clinton. In Illinois, Republican Gov. Jim Edgar has a 66 percent approval rating -- nearly the same as the 70 percent Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles enjoys among Florida's Hispanic voters.