Dr. James McCann & Dr. Michael Jones-Correa discuss Latino political engagement

Dr. James McCann & Dr. Michael Jones-Correa discuss their research on Latino engagement in America. They talked about their new book.

Discussion on Latino Political Engagement

Dr. James McCann & Dr. Michael Jones-Correa are the authors of the book, Holding Fast: Resilience and Civic Engagement Among Latino Immigrants. Dr. Michael Jones-Correa is a Professor of Political Science at UPenn. Dr. James McCann is a Professor of Political Science at Perdue University. The authors discussed their findings and potential implications for the election.

From the book description:

Holding Fast draws largely from a yearlong survey of Latino immigrants, including both citizens and noncitizens, conducted before and after the 2016 election. The survey gauges immigrants’ attitudes about the direction of the country and the emotional underpinnings of their political involvement. While survey respondents expressed pessimism about the direction of the United States following the 2016 election, there was no evidence of their withdrawal from civic life. Instead, immigrants demonstrated remarkable resilience in their political engagement, and their ties to America remained robust.

McCann and Jones-Correa examine Latino immigrants’ trust in government as well as their economic concerns and fears surrounding possible deportations of family members and friends. They find that Latino immigrants who were concerned about the likelihood of deportation were more likely to express a lack of trust in government. Concerns about personal finances were less salient. Disenchantment with the U.S. government did not differ based on citizenship status, length of stay in America, or residence in immigrant-friendly states. Foreign-born Latinos who are naturalized citizens shared similar sentiments to those with fewer political rights, and immigrants in California, for example, express views similar to those in Texas.