Understanding Latino political participation: Exploring the evidence from the Latino national political survey

This article examines Latino political participation in several forms of nonvoting political activities (attending rallies, volunteering for a party or candidate, contributing money, signing petitions, contacting officials, and attending public meetings). Latino groups are compared with non-Latinos and with each other, and the impact of the sociodemographic characteristics is also considered. The findings are complex, but they do not provide much support for the view that Latinos (as such) are systemically less likely to participate. Latinos' participation patterns regarding a number of other forms are, on the whole, not much different from those of non-Latinos. For some forms, such as attending rallies, Latinos are more likely to participate. Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans commonly participate at levels equal to or higher than Cubans in these nonvoting activities.