Latino Identity in Contexts of Threat: The Determinants of Vote Choice in Response to Explicit and Implicit Cues in Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

Abstract

This paper engages with the important question of how exposure to explicit and implicit cues within anti-immigrant political messages shape the voting decisions of non-Mexican Latino groups. I argue that explanations of identity salience in Latino political behavior focus exclusively on the experiences of Mexican Americans, raising the issue of generalizability to other national origin groups. In a laboratory experiment in New York City, I test the effects of explicit and implicit pan-immigrant and nationality-based cues on Latino candidate support. The results illustrate significant differences in Latino receptivity to American immigration debates. Given the overt and implied focus of Mexican immigrants in elite immigration discourse, nationality-based cues about Mexican immigration were not effective in mobilizing collective identity in the voting decisions of non-Mexican groups. Only explicit cues to Latino identity successfully activated panethnic group interests. These findings not only suggest that identity activation works differently for non-Mexican Latino groups in the context of immigration threat, but it also challenges the notion of a one size fits all political strategy in Latino mobilization.