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I have noticed something interesting. It seems that Latinos seem to vote differently based on where they live. I'm not talking about what country they are from but where they live.

For example California had a much more solid Latino vote for Biden than in Texas. These states Hispanic/Latino population are heavily Mexican American. I've heard that in New York and Florida, Puerto Ricans for example differ dramatically when polling each group separately. Here are some examples with both actual numbers and shift vs 2016 in Puerto Rican areas:

South Florida

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This seems to track along each state's political status generally (Florida is an outlier because of its large Cuban population which supports Republicans more because of communist history). What causes this? Is it that people choose where to live based on this? Historical ties? Something else?

Extra: I think it is people don't really vote ethnicity as much as they do for beliefs. For Black voters it is different because their ethnicity is tied to certain political issues like Black Lives Matter.

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    Is this only the case for Hispanics? Do you have voting data by race/nationality by state?
    – Ray
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:14
  • It is true for White voters especially given their majority of the voting population, but Black voters it is not, though I heard there is an east west divide: the Black voters on the west are less heavy Democrat regardless of whether it is a red or blue state.
    – Number File
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:45
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    Have you considered the possibility that those people simply voted based on their political beliefs, not because of their ethnicity? That would explain why Latino voters in California vote different to their counterparts in Texas.
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:52
  • That is what I am saying! I was saying immigrants might choose different locations on that basis or something like that
    – Number File
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:53
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    It seems that Latinos seem to vote differently based on where they live. Doesn't everyone?
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 21:47

2 Answers 2

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The problem is that "Hispanics" are not one homogenous group. Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Dominicans, Columbians, and all of the other Latin-American countries have different histories and cultures, not to mention those of Hispanic descent that come from families that have lived in the mainland United States for generations. Everybody is an individual and have more than just one issue to be concerned about. People are affected by the concerns of their area, such as economy and what they feel are their rights. For example, in Texas there is a high percentage of Mexican-American population, and many of that population, especially in South Texas works for the oil industry which is threatened by Democratic efforts to move to renewable resources. There are also several who work in law enforcement. For example, as of December 2020 in Corpus Christi, Texas 51% of the Police Department is Hispanic. Real or perceived slights against the law enforcement community aren't going to be received as well as other places where the police are predominately white. Additionally, Texas has a large rural farming and ranching community which has been traditionally served by Republicans. This has started to change somewhat but it takes time for loyalties to change.

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It is highly erroneous to lump the Latino vote as one single category. Florida has lots of people who recently escaped communism from Cuba and Venezuela. They tend to view any politician with even the slightest twinge of socialist views with a degree of skepticism. Texas has lots of people of Hispanic descent whose ancestors were in Texas before Texas was Texas. Texas also has lots of people who recently escaped near-dictatorships in Central America, some left wing near-dictatorships, others right wing near-dictatorships.

And that's just Florida and Texas.

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  • I did not say it was one category. California has the same category, and so do Arizona and New Mexico. Florida was an outlier. What I am saying is even when you control for nationality, you see differences
    – Number File
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:49
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    @NumberFile Do you see a category for German-American voters? For English-American voters? For Italian-American voters? Those questions were rhetorical; the answer is of course not.
    – David Hammen
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:51
  • Sometimes: read -- buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/trump-and-the-white-vote
    – Number File
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:56
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    @Number File: But (as the article itself admits) there are problems with such analysis, because many people don't know their ancestry with any certainty. Even if they're going by family names, after N generations that's only 1/2^N of potential ancestors. E.g. a person with a possibly German-origin surname might have grandparents with names of German, Lakota, English, and Irish origin. And the next generation (had there been one) could easily have added Spanish, French, Finnish, or Chinese to the mix.
    – jamesqf
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 16:46

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