More Hispanics Say Discrimination Is a Problem, Poll Finds

By Julia Preston 

More than six in 10 Latinos in the United States say discrimination is a “major problem,” a significant increase in the last three years, according to a broad survey of Latino attitudes by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

In 2007, the Pew center reported, 54 percent of Latinos said discrimination was a major problem. That year, nearly half of Latinos — 46 percent — cited language as the primary cause for that discrimination. In the new survey, a plurality — 36 percent of Latinos — said that immigration status was the leading cause.

The Pew Hispanic Center report comes as Latino voters could play a decisive role in several close midterm races, including the governors’ and Senate contests in California; the Senate race in Colorado; and the re-election fight in Nevada of Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, against Sharron Angle, a Tea Party-backed candidate.

The Pew survey shows Latinos — the nation’s largest minority, with 47 million in the United States — feeling beleaguered by backlash from the polarizing debate over immigration in the last year, and with some new mixed feelings about the impact of illegal immigration on Hispanics already living in the United States. While 29 percent said that impact had been positive, 31 percent said it had been negative.

In 2007, before the recession began, fully half of Latinos said illegal immigration had a positive impact on those already in this country.

Still, a large majority of Latinos — 86 percent — support legislation to open a path to citizenship for an estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants if they pay fines, pass background checks and have jobs. Only 13 percent of Latinos said illegal immigrants should be deported.

According to the report, 51 percent of Latinos have more confidence in the Democratic Party on immigration issues, while 19 percent trust the Republicans more. But the top issue of concern for Latinos these days is education, with immigration their fourth priority, the survey found.

More than half, 52 percent, of Latinos, worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported, according to the Pew survey. One-third of the Latinos in the report knew someone who had been detained or deported in the last year.

The vast majority of Latinos, 79 percent, oppose the strict law aiming at curbing illegal immigration that passed in Arizona this year. (Parts of the law were put on hold by a federal judge.) A similar majority, 78 percent, is opposed to repealing the birthright citizenship clauses of the constitution.

Latinos are divided, however, on whether to increase the number of officers patrolling the Southwest border, with 48 percent approving and 46 percent opposed.