AP: Immigrant children trending Democrat
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S.-born children of Hispanic immigrants are more likely than their parents to identify themselves as Democrats as they integrate into American life, maintaining strong ties to their cultural heritage while casting themselves as liberal on social issues.
A wide-ranging study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center lays bare some of the difficulties for the Republican Party following elections last November, when President Obama won with support from 80 percent of nonwhite and ethnic voters. The report tracks the socioeconomic progress and views of second-generation Americans, the bulk of them Latinos and Asians who were born in the U.S. after a 1965 immigration law opened U.S. borders to millions of non-Europeans.
"What's striking over the past several decades is that the two groups at the heart of the modern immigration wave Hispanics and Asian-Americans have both been trending Democratic over time, as they sink their roots deeper into American society," Paul Taylor, Pew's executive vice president, said in an interview.
"Many decades ago, Ronald Reagan is said to have described Hispanics as 'Republicans who don't know it yet.' Well, it's 2013, and they apparently still haven't figured it out," he said.
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