This book explores the forces that shape Latino political preferences, arguing that social identities are at the center of Latino partisanship. Despite hopes of the Republican Party for bringing in Latinos through religious and moral issues, Latinos in America consistently side with the Democratic Party. Two possible explanations based on social identity emerge as theories of Latino partisanship. The first possibility is that Latinos behave as a single-issue public driven politically by the issue of immigration. A thorough exploration of this possibility in part two of the book finds very little evidence to justify treating Latinos as a single-issue public. The second explanation, presented in part three, relies more heavily on the concept of social identities. Latino pan-ethnic identity emerges as one of multiple identities available to Latinos in America. These multiple, diverse, and overlapping identities are the force behind Latino partisanship. Latino ethnic identity trumps the impact of religious identities in making Latinos more Democratic.

This book showcases new work done by gender politics scholars and political psychologists, covering a variety of political psychology topics. These include stereotyping and prejudice, intergroup conflict, social identity, attitude formation, group affinity, group decision-making, anxiety, contextual effects on individual behaviour, and the evolutionary roots of political behaviour. Political psychological insights are applied to address topics of longstanding concern within the field of gender and politics. Among the citizenry, gender differences in political ideology, responses to partisan conflict, Hispanic identity formation, and symbolic racism are explored. Other chapters pose the following questions relating to female candidates: What have been the effects of state parties’ gender-inclusive policies? Who is most likely to gender stereotype candidates? Are general attitudes toward women in political office related to vote choice in specific contests? What are the implications of politicized motherhood? Finally, a set of essays engage a variety of themes related to gender, decision-making rules, and authority in small deliberative bodies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Politics, Groups, and Identities.

Due to the dramatic growth of the Latino population in America, in combination with the relative decline of the Anglo (non-Hispanic white) share, Latino Studies is increasingly at the forefront of political concern. With Latino Politics: Identity, Mobilization, and Representation, editors Rodolfo Espino, David L. Leal, and Kenneth J. Meier bring together essays from a number of leading scholars to address the ever-more important issues within the field. Providing an overview of issues surrounding Latino identity and political opinion--such as differences among Latino groups based on national origin, the importance of descriptive representation, and issues of competition and cooperation, particularly with reference to African Americans--the editors speak to the many fundamental debates ingrained in the discipline. In addition to highlighting important contributions of the study of Latino politics to date, this volume suggests areas that have yet to be explored and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrates how the study of Latino politics relates to broader questions of American politics and society. Foregrounding debates in the overall discipline of political science, the collection will appeal to those who study Latino politics as well as those who are interested in understanding American politics and society with reference to Latino and "minority" concerns. Contributors Rodney E. Hero, University of Notre Dame * Benjamin Márquez, University of Wisconsin, Madison * David L. Leal, University of Texas at Austin * Michael Jones-Correa, Cornell University * Matt A. Barreto, University of Washington * Ricardo Ramírez, University of Southern California * Louis DeSipio, University of California, Irvine * Adrian D. Pantoja, Arizona State University * Sylvia Manzano, Texas A&M University * Helena Alves Rodrigues, University of Arizona * Gary M. Segura, University of Washington * René R. Rocha, University of Iowa * Luis Ricardo Fraga, University of Washington * Sharon A. Navarro, University of Texas at San Antonio * Rodolfo Espino, Arizona State University * Jason P. Casellas, University of Texas at Austin * Eric Gonzalez Juenke, University of Colorado at Boulder * Nick A. Theobald, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo * Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Texas Christian University * Manuel Avalos, Arizona State University * Kenneth J. Meier, Texas A&M University

Latinos are the fastest growing population group in the U.S. and have exerted widespread influence in numerous aspects of American culture from entertainment to economics. Unlike Asian, black, white, and Native Americans who are defined by race, Latinos can be of any race and are beginning to shed new light on the meanings and political implications of race. As the Latino population grows, how will Latinos come to define themselves racially given the long standing social order of black and white? What are the political implications of their chosen racial identities? How does Latinos' racial identity influence their political behavior and motivation for participation? The Politics of Race in Latino Communities is an innovative examination of development and political consequences of Latino racial identity in the U.S. Drawing on a national political survey of Latinos and focus group interviews, the book shows that development of Latino racial identity is a complex interaction between primordial ties, institutional practices, individual characteristics, and social interactions. Furthermore, the book highlights the political relevance of identity, showing that racial identity has meaningful consequences for the political attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of Latinos. An important piece of research propelling new discussions and insights into Latino politics.

The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics are a set of reference books offering authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of scholarship on American politics. Each volume focuses on a particular aspect of the field. The project is under the General Editorship of George C. Edwards III, and distinguished specialists in their respective fields edit each volume. The Handbooks aim not just to report on the discipline, but also to shape it as scholars critically assess the scholarship on a topic and propose directions in which it needs to move. The series is an indispensable reference for anyone working in American politics. This Handbook offers comprehensive coverage of the various theoretical approaches to the study of American elections and political behavior. The chapters are thoughtful and creative, providing broad overviews of intellectual developments and challenges, as well as incisive commentary on the accomplishments of, and challenges facing, scholars of American politics. Substantively, the Handbook includes chapters focusing on various approaches and issues in research design, political participation, vote choice, presidential and non-presidential elections, and issues, interests and elites as influences on individuals' political behaviour. Each of the chapters offers a working research bibliography, as well as retrospective evaluations of research and discussions of fruitful paths for future research. General Editor for The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics: George C. Edwards III

Following the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the presidential election of 2016, many prominent scholars and political pundits argued that a successful Democratic Party in the future must abandon identity politics. While these calls for Democrats to distance themselves from such strategies have received much attention, there is scant academic work that empirically tests whether nonracial campaigns provide an advantage to Democrats today. As Christopher Stout explains, those who argue for deracialized appeals to voters may not be considering how several high-profile police shootings and acquittals, increasing evidence of growing racial health and economic disparities, retrenchments on voting rights, and the growth of racial hate groups have made race a more salient issue now than in the recent past. Moreover, they fail to account for how demographic changes in the United States have made racial and ethnic minorities a more influential voting bloc. The Case for Identity Politics finds that racial appeals are an effective form of outreach for Democratic candidates and enhance, rather than detract from, their electability in our current political climate.

Using the most extensive and currently available survey opinion data, this book empirically supports the argument that Latinos have emerged as a convergent panethnic political group, beyond the individual national origin identities dating to the time of the 1990 Latino National Political Survey when Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans were treated conceptually as politically distinct groups. Replete with data and supplemented by an extensive online resource, this book offers scholars, students, and sophisticated general readers evidence and inspiration for understanding the dynamics of Latino politics in the U.S. today.

More than 53 million Latinos now constitute the largest, fastest-growing, and most diverse minority group in the United States, and the nationOCOs political future may well be shaped by LatinosOCO continuing political incorporation. In the 2012 election, Latinos proved to be a critical voting bloc in both Presidential and Congressional races; this demographic will only become more important in future American elections. Using new evidence from the largest-ever scientific survey addressed exclusively to Latino/Hispanic respondents, a Latino Politics a en Ciencia Pol tica aexplores political diversity within the Latino community, considering how intra-community differences influence political behavior and policy preferences. The editors and contributors, all noted scholars of race and politics, examine key issues of Latino politics in the contemporary United States: Latino/a identities ( latinidad ), transnationalism, acculturation, political community, and racial consciousness. The book contextualizes todayOCOs research within the history of Latino political studies, from the fieldOCOs beginnings to the present, explaining how systematic analysis of Latino political behavior has over time become integral to the study of political science.a Latino Politics aen Ciencia Pol tica is thus an ideal text for learning both the state of the field today, and key dimensions of Latino political attitudes."

This book examines the evolution of the Catholic vote in the United States and the role of Catholic voters in the 2020 national elections more specifically. There is a paucity of academic books on Catholic voters, even though Catholics comprise nearly one-quarter of the US national popular vote and commonly are called the “swing vote.” Scholars of religion and politics tend to focus heavily on the evangelical right, thus overlooking the powerful influence of Catholic voters who, by the accounts in this volume, were critical to the presidential election of President Joe Biden. To understand the intersection of religion, politics, and election outcomes in the US requires an analysis of the role played by Catholics. Among key topics covered in this volume are whether Biden’s Catholic identity was key to his achieving a larger percentage of the Catholic vote than achieved by Hillary Clinton in 2016; the role of the Catholic bishops in US elections; the critically important role of the Catholic Latino vote in US elections; the conservative Catholic and evangelical alliance in US politics; and the distinctive politics of social justice Catholics and socially conservative Catholics.

Many questions remain unanswered about the observable differences in voting behavior, partisanship, and cultural attitudes among men and women. Bejarano offers an authoritative, critical reflection on how this political gender gap is displayed in the racial/ethnic-minority groups in the U.S.