The Latino Influence in the United States

The population of the United States is 308 million, according to the census released last December. In the last decade, the population grew by 9.7 percent. That pace is slower than the 1930s, which implies a demographic stagnation.

Population growth occurs in the regions where diverse ethnicities congregate, but overall it is concentrated where Latin populations live and, in particular, the ones of Mexican origin. There are already 45 million Latin Americans living in the United States. In the past 20 years, that number has increased 50 percent. Government studies support the current tendencies and predict that halfway into the present century there will be 130 million Latin Americans, or one in three people in the United States. The census did not survey the migratory population or include the residents with and without papers.

The projections of the census office state by the year 2050 the group of racial minorities — Latin American, African-American, Asian — will exceed the number of the current white majority. That is to say, in the next 40 years whites will be the minority in the United States.

The population in the last 10 years grew in the South, the zone that borders on Mexico, and the West. The former increased by 14.3 percent, with Texas and Florida leading this growth, and the latter by 13.8 percent with California and Nevada. The regions that grew the least are the regions on the Atlantic Coast and the Northeast — New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

The states that grew the most are Nevada, which increased by 35 percent and now has 2.7 million inhabitants; Arizona, which grew by 24.6 percent and has 6.4 million residents; Utah, which grew by 23 percent and has 2.8 million residents; and Texas, which increased by 20.6 percent and has 25.1 million inhabitants. The majority of Latin Americans are of Mexican ancestry. Their population has increased and now comprises 37 percent of Texans and 26 percent of Nevadans.

The expansion of Latin Americans, in particular Mexicans, goes to those regions more because of core traditions. Now they are in all of the states, and this growth can alter the electoral map of the United States. Latin Americans traditionally have voted in favor of the Democrats, and in the presidential election of 2008, 67 percent voted in favor of Barack Obama, according to the Pew center.

Electoral scholars do not see that there can be a relevant change in the electoral preferences of Latin Americans, while the Republicans maintain positions contrary to whatever migratory reforms favor the ones without papers, who amount to 12 million people in the United States.