Poll: Political Debate Spurs Hispanic Unity

The poll, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group, is the first national survey of Hispanics since the spring, when debate over the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants escalated in Congress. A House bill that would make illegal immigrants felons helped spark protest marches on behalf of immigrants in dozens of cities.

"By any measure, the spring of 2006 ... (was) a historical period for the Latino population here," says Roberto Suro, the Pew Center's director. "Clearly, both the marches and the immigration debate have made deep impressions."

Among the survey's findings:

•54% say the debate about immigration policy has led to an increase in discrimination against Hispanics. A majority of those surveyed, regardless of income, education or gender, hold this view, including 51% of foreign-born Hispanics and 57% of those born in the USA.

•63% say the marches were the start of a social movement that will continue.

•58% say Hispanics are working together toward shared goals, an increase from 2002 when only 43% of those surveyed saw such unity.

•Three-fourths say the policy debate will spur more Hispanics to vote in November, but it is unclear which political party might benefit most. One in four say that neither Republicans nor Democrats have the best position on immigration.

"What we see in the survey is the bounce the Republicans got off the Bush election in 2004 is basically gone," Suro says. President Bush received 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004, according to the center's analysis of exit poll data. "On the other hand, there are no clear Democratic gains."

While a majority of Hispanics sees the street demonstrations as a galvanizing force in their community, some supporters of tighter immigration controls say the marches made many Americans less sympathetic toward the undocumented.