How Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Shape the California Electorate

Although the ethnic composition of California’s population has changed dramatically over the last two decades, the voting population’s profile is shifting slowly by comparison. In How Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Shape the California Electorate, Jack Citrin and Benjamin Highton study turnout gaps across California’s four largest racial and ethnic groups. They find that the relatively low turnout among Latinos and Asians, the two groups with the largest immigrant populations, can be traced to markedly different causes. Facilitating naturalization is an important step toward faster political incorporation for all immigrants, but the authors conclude that no single policy designed to boost voting is likely to work for both Latinos and Asians.