Imagine That: Just 4 Percent of Unauthorized Latino Immigrants Say They’re Republicans

Hardly any unauthorized Latino immigrants in this country say they identify with the Republican Party.

According to the Pew Research Center, Latinos who are either foreign-born U.S. citizens or permanent residents aren’t much more likely to be Republicans, either.

Pew took a look at a common claim that providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million unauthorized immigrants, many of them Latino, will create many more Democratic voters than Republican voters.

That claim appears to have some basis in reality.

Just 4 percent of unauthorized Latinos polled by Pew last year say they “identify” with the Republican Party, compared to 31 percent for Democrats.

Latino permanent residents also favored the Democratic Party, 49-8. Foreign-born U.S. citizens chose the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a 54-11 margin.

If you take into account the Latinos who said they don’t identify with a particular party but do “lean” more toward one, then the unauthorized Latinos side more with Republicans than those who have legal status in the United States — which might not make a whole lot of sense, from the common-sense perspective.

“This current snapshot shows that unauthorized Hispanic immigrants also lean more Democratic than Republican — though to a lesser degree than Hispanic immigrants who are currently eligible to vote,” Pew’s analysis says. “And it’s uncertain whether these unauthorized immigrants, many of whom are currently unaffiliated, would adopt similar political affiliations and voting patterns if given the chance to naturalize.”

If you had to bet, you might want to gamble that they will, considering that some Republicans don’t take too kindly to immigrants.

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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.