Latino Attitudes On A Possible War With Iraq.

Support for U.S. military action against Iraq is weaker in the Hispanic population, particularly among the foreign born, than in the American population overall, according to a Pew Hispanic Center poll of Latino adults taken February 13 to 16, 2003. Several recent polls by news organizations show that 60 to 70 percent of the general public supports military action. In this survey 48 percent of Latinos said they support invading Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power and 43 percent are opposed. Among native-born Latinos support for a possible war is 52 percent, and among foreign-born Latinos support is 46 percent in the Pew Hispanic Center poll. Overall Latino views mirror those of the general public on whether Iraq poses an immediate threat to the United States although somewhat fewer Latinos see a long-term threat from Iraq compared to the findings of general population polls.

Latino views are more closely in line with the findings of surveys of the population as a whole on the question of whether the United States should act immediately or give more time to United Nations weapons inspectors with 56 percent of all Latinos and 60 percent of foreign-born Latinos saying the inspectors should be given more time.

As with the population at large, approval of an attack on Iraq is highest when the question presupposes full United Nations’ support for the action and drops off significantly when the question presupposes U.S. action only with the support of major allies and without U.N. backing. In both scenarios, approval of an attack is lower among foreign-born Latinos than in the U.S. population overall as measured by other recent surveys.

The survey of Latino attitudes found grave concerns about the likelihood of casualties among U.S. forces as well as the potential economic impact of the war, and it revealed worries, especially among the foreign born, that war could lead to harassment of Latinos by immigration authorities and the police. Two-thirds of all Latinos fear that the country will experience difficult economic times and that they will be personally affected. Half express a great deal of concern that they might lose their jobs.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted with 400 adults and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent. The sample was representative of the Latino adult population in terms of gender, age, education, national origins and region. The poll was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a Miami-based public opinion research firm specializing in the Latino
population.

Interviews were conducted both in English and Spanish. Several of the questions are close to those used in polls of the population overall, and the results from those surveys are shown below for comparison purposes along side the results of this survey.

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