Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
Latino Unity Fails to Live Up to Hype
By Gregory Rodriguez
Gregory Rodriguez, a contributing editor to Opinion, is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He's writing a book on how Mexican immigration will change America's view of race.
October 5, 2003
It may not have been the act that sealed his fate, but there is little doubt that Gov. Gray Davis' signing of a bill that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses didn't do much to save his political skin. He must have known that his signature on legislation that he had twice vetoed would incur the wrath of many Anglo, black and Asian voters. But the governor evidently calculated that a windfall of Latino support would offset his Anglo losses. He was wrong.
According to the most recent Times poll, Latinos are much more likely to support the new driver's license law than are their non-Latino counterparts. But when asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for a candidate who supported the legislation, the results were pretty much a wash. Though 32% of likely Latino voters said they would be more likely, 27% said they'd be less likely and 37% said it made no difference. I'm sure that is not what Davis had expected: alienating large numbers of white, black and Asian voters just to split the Latino vote.
Davis repeated a mistake many analysts have made during the recall campaign: He distilled the burgeoning and diversifying Latino electorate of 2.3 million into a lump of uniformity.