Democratic Support Among Latino Professionals.

Just days before the election, the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE) released the results of their “Latino Professional Pulse – October 2004,” a national survey of 475 Latino professionals regarding their work life, economic sentiment, political leanings, and investments.

Topping the list as the No. 1 political concern among Latin professionals was the economy (27% of respondents); that number jumped to 32% when factoring in the 7.7% who cited jobs as their main concern. War/foreign policy came in a close second with 21.2% of respondents. Surprisingly enough, immigration was at the bottom of the list at 3.1%.

The survey also showed that although 18.4 % are still undecided, the majority are affiliated with the Democratic party (58.7%) and support Kerry (62.2%). Most importantly, the majority (88%) are registered to vote and overwhelmingly intend to cast there vote next week (93.2%).

“Regardless of political affiliation, what this survey shows is that more and more Latinos are seeing themselves as strong components of the U.S. political system and a critical part of its economy,” said Abe Tomas Hughes, II, chairman of the board, HACE. “There is no doubt that Latinos will vote and will be a huge deciding force next Tuesday.”

The survey also revealed that Latin professionals are losing faith in the economy and that their views on the subject have changed dramatically since last polled in June 2004. This June, when asked about how the economy was faring, 48% said it was rising, 9.9% said it was declining and 39.1% said it was flat. When polled again about the same subject this October, 38.9% of respondents said they felt the economy was rising, 21% said it was declining and 40% said it was flat.

As to their personal economic outlook, just as many respondents received pay raises as those that did not. And, though views on the economy had wavered in recent months, survey participants planned to move full speed ahead with their personal investments, with a whopping 83.2% citing that they plan to invest in the next five years, with an average investment of $38,000.

HACE’s survey was administered from October 5, 2004 to October 11, 2004 and distributed electronically to HACE’s national constituency. Participants included 475 Latin professionals ages 17-51+; males and females where almost equally represented; and a cross-section of all major Latino groups were represented (i.e., 60.4% Mexican, 16.0% Puerto Rican, 12.8% South American, 5.7% Central American, 2.8% of Cuban and 1.1% Dominican). HACE respondents also reflected a true cross-section of Latino professionals:

— 31.3% with Masters degree and above

— 78.2% with a Bachelors degree and above

— 98.0% with some college coursework