The complicated constituency: a study of immigrant opinions about political representation

Abstract

Non-naturalized immigrants cannot vote in the United States, but they are included in apportionment and elected officials craft policies that affect them. Representatives are thus, according to many scholars, obligated to represent their needs and interests. The question this study investigates is how immigrants feel about representative democracy in the United States. To what extent is their perspective on American-style representation shaped by their status as immigrants or ethnic minorities? Or are their assessments and the reasons for them similar to those of whites and citizens (i.e. that “special interests” dominate politics)? This study examines these questions through focus group discussions with Latino immigrants and with non-Hispanic native-born whites. Results highlight similarities in attitudes about representation among both groups but also areas in which immigrants are more pessimistic and even optimistic. Results also show that immigration is central to the participants' social identity when they assess political representation. Their identity as immigrants was routinely invoked, while their identities as Latinos, Salvadorans, Peruvians, or as Spanish speakers was not.