January 28, 2000
U.S. Hispanics Want Elected Officials to Give Them More Choices and More Control Over the Decisions that Affect their Families
WASHINGTON — The Board of Directors of the Hispanic Business Roundtable (HBR) released the results of a national survey on U.S. Hispanics. The survey, conducted by QEV Analytics Inc., interviewed 1,000 Hispanic adults nationwide from Jan. 7 to 17, and has a margin or error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
"This survey shows that Hispanics want more control over the basic decisions that affect their daily lives," said HBR Executive Director Roberto G. Deposada. "Whether it's education, health care, Social Security or taxes, Hispanics want government to let them decide for themselves what is in the best interests of their families. And they are willing to use their newfound strength at the polls to make this happen."
Results from the poll on Social Security, education, taxes and politics follow:
By a margin of 50 percent to 39 percent, Hispanics believe that Social Security will need fundamental reform to keep the program from running out of money. They support reform now, rather than to leave it alone and have Congress put in more money if needed in the future.
More than half of Hispanics (56 percent) do not have a savings account for retirement other than Social Security. To add insult to injury, 58 percent of Hispanics have little or no confidence that they will receive the Social Security benefits they are entitled to when they retire.
"That's why 69 percent would support reforming the Social Security system in order to use a portion of the taxes they pay for Social Security to create their own personal retirement account," Deposada said. "It's very hard for low-income workers, particularly those who work for small businesses or in the service industry, to set aside money for retirement. If an employer does not provide assistance to open retirement accounts, workers will have to rely solely on Social Security. Therefore, the idea of using a portion of their taxes to open a personal retirement account is very attractive to them."
When asked what was the biggest problem facing public schools in general, Hispanics were almost evenly divided between three options:
— 27 percent believe that students are being taught non-traditional values
— 24 percent believe that students are not getting the knowledge and skills they need
— 23 percent believe that students are exposed to violence and drugs
"Clearly, Hispanics want to be more involved in their children's education, and that's why they strongly support school voucher programs that include private and public schools," Deposada said.
"Hispanic parents see education as the way to open the doors of opportunity for their children. That's why having the option to pick the best school for their children is a very attractive proposition for them."
By an overwhelming margin of 70 percent to 25 percent, Hispanic parents would support school choice programs that would include private or public schools. Sixty-three percent of the respondents supported the education initiative in Florida to help families with children in schools that fail to meet certain standards of educational success. Under the new Florida law signed by Governor Jeb Bush, the parents o2HF!ildren in those schools can send their kids to a better public school or to a religious or private school at state expense. Among Florida residents, the support was even higher (74 percent).
Contrary to popular opinion, Hispanics strongly believe that the purpose of bilingual education programs in the public school system should focus on making sure that students learn English well, rather than teaching immigrant children in their native language (76 percent to 15 percent).
When it comes to taxes, 56 percent of Hispanics believe that taxes are too high, compared to 7 percent who think they are too low and 33 percent who believe they are about right. However, the survey found that 84 percent believe that reducing taxes on individuals and families will be an important issue for them when deciding whom they will support in the upcoming elections (53 percent very important and 31 percent fairly important).
By a margin of 60 percent to 28 percent Hispanics support a flat tax system of 17 percent across the board. "Without a doubt, the idea of keeping more of what they earn, will be a key issue in the Hispanic community this fall. If candidates present a detailed plan to Hispanics showing how individuals and families in their community will benefit, they have the opportunity to be very successful."
If the presidential election were held today, Vice President Al Gore would hold a small lead over Texas Governor George W. Bush (38 percent to 32 percent). In a generic congressional ballot, Democrats hold a commanding lead of 55 percent to 21 percent.
"These numbers spell trouble for the Vice President. A 6-point lead among Hispanic voters is too small and would almost guarantee his defeat," Deposada said. "When we compare the presidential and the congressional numbers, we see the difference between those who pay attention and reach out to the Hispanic community and those who do not."
"The irony is that on the issues, congressional republicans are representing the views of Hispanics. The problem is that there is very little communication between the congressional leadership and the Hispanic community," Deposada said. "If congressional republicans do not reach out to Hispanic voters this year, they will face an uphill battle in their efforts to keep control of Congress."
The Hispanic Business Roundtable is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C. HBR was established in 1995 to address policy issues that directly affect the well-being of Hispanics in the U.S. The roundtable's agenda is to develop and promote policies that will enhance overall business, economic and social development of Hispanics. For more information or to download the poll results, please visit our website at www.hbrt.org.
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