LATINO VOTING PARTICIPATION - EXPLAINING AND DIFFERENTIATING LATINO VOTING TURNOUT

Latinos or Hispanics are the distinctive ethnic groups most rapidly in creasing in numbers in the United States. Yet, this notably burgeoning population is disproportionately underresearched and underrepresented . Research exploring the reasons for the low levels of participation a nd representation is greatly hampered by the failure of research organ izations to collect adequate data on Latinos as well as the misconcept ion of the characteristics of this group. The Latino National Politica l Survey (LNPS) provides an unprecedented opportunity to begin analyzi ng the Latino political communities. This study analyzes some of the c haracteristics of Latinos that affect voting participation. Using the LNPS data, selected sociodemographic indexes correlated with voter tur nout are examined. Logistic regression models empirically demonstrate the importance of distinguishing among subgroups and also confirms tha t socioeconomic factors, most notably life-cycle effect variables, are of critical significance in predicting voter turnout.