Latinos, Group Identity, and Equal Opportunity on the 2020 California Ballot

Objective: Racial minority groups are often assumed to support equal opportunity policies, with most research focused on biracial contexts between Whites and Blacks. With a unique opportunity to study richer contexts from California’s 2020 elections, we test whether Latino voters supported ballot measures associated with equal opportunity. Methods: Using data on vote choice for Propositions 15 (raising commercial property taxes) and 16 (repealing prohibition of affirmative action) from a post-election survey of California registrants, we use logistic regression to test whether Latino support for equal opportunity policies is higher than that of Whites. Results: For both propositions, while Latino support was higher than White support, it was not statistically different when controlled for partisanship. Conclusion: There is little evidence to suggest that California Latinos support equal opportu- nity policies more strongly than White voters. This lukewarm support may explain the fates of both propositions in the election.