Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Hispanics Make Strong Connection with Politics and Religion

A new survey analyzes Hispanic's attitudes towards religion. The survey demonstrated a strong connection between Latino's religious views and political affiliations.

There is a distinct difference between Catholics and Evangelicals. With Catholics tending to shift left towards Democrats, while Evangelicals tend to sway Republican. Hispanics, who have traditionally worshiped in the Catholic church, are converting to the Evangelical religion at rate of 1 million U.S. Hispanics per year.

The bilingual survey reported the following:

The survey found 43 percent of eligible Hispanic voters consider themselves Democrats and 20 percent were Republican; 20 percent chose independent - the rest had no answer or picked another party. Among Catholic Hispanics, 48 percent said they were Democrats and 17 percent Republicans, while Hispanic evangelicals more narrowly favored Republicans, 37 percent to 32 percent.

On a volatile political topic, two-thirds of Hispanics surveyed said immigrants strengthen society. But the remainder did not, which the survey authors flagged as a sizable minority. One in three evangelical Hispanics said immigrants threaten society, the highest number among all the faith groups.

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