The past few elections have witnessed an increased contestation of votes across racial and ethnic identities, especially with regard to Latinos. As such, this article explores and reports on the important relationship between Latino identity and political party identification. Using the 2002 National Survey of Latinos (with its representative sample of nearly 3,000 Latinos), it is found that in addition to traditional measures of party identification, Latinos are significantly and considerably more likely to identify themselves as Republican versus Democrats based on their retention of traditional Latino family values and ideals, their self-identification along ethnic lines, and their overall trust of politicians and view of politicians’ concern for Latinos. Implications for future party identification and political strategy are far ranging and discussed.
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