Press Archive

Latinos Vote to Set New Record for
Participation in November

LOS ANGELES, CA - "Judging by the recent polls conducted by WCVI in California, New Mexico and Illinois, the Latino community has reached an unprecedented 7.6 million registered voters for this year's national elections," said WCVI President, Antonio González. The WCVI surveys conducted from late September through early October gathered data on Latino voter registration trends, election preferences and issue opinions.

According to results, in New Mexico 9.1% of Latinos have registered to vote since 1996, 27.3% in Illinois, and 34% in California. In California, that translates to 670,000 new Latino registered voters since 1996. WCVI analysis of voter registration records in California supports the trend. As of August 11th, Latino registration stood at 2,205,243 voters in California or 14.8% of all voters, 846,638 voters in Los Angeles County (21.8% of the total), and 276,606 voters in the City of Los Angeles (19.4% of the total). Final Latinos totals are projected to be higher since a flurry of voter registration projects were conducted during the summer and early fall by groups like Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), LULAC, the AFL-CIO, and the Democratic and Republican parties.

"We estimate California Latino registration at 2.3 million as of October 10, 2000. We estimate that U.S. Latino registration is between 7.2 million and 7.7 million. As we collect more data from other states we'll be able to make a more precise estimate. This will occur within a week," said Robert Aguinaga, WCVI Research Coordinator.

Based on the polls Latinos in the states of California, New Mexico and Illinois would support the Democratic congressional candidates, 71,7%, 74.5%, and 70% prospectively, if the elections were held today. "New records will be set as we are predicting a 75% Latino turnout come November. Latinos will comprise between five and six percent of all votes cast. They'll be extremely important in this close election," pointed out González.

"In terms of Presidential preferences, Latinos are supportive of Vice President Al Gore by a three to one ratio. Latinos overwhelmingly favor Al Gore perhaps because Bush has not supported those issues most important to Latinos, immigration reform, strengthening jobs and wages, access to health care, and educational reform," commented González.