In advance of California’s Republican primary tomorrow, here are 10 important facts about immigrants and people of color in the state that display their significant economic, cultural, and electoral power.
1. Communities of color are driving California’s population growth. The Hispanic share of California’s population grew from just over 25 percent in 1990 to almost 38 percent in 2010, while the Asian* share of the population grew from 9.2 percent to 13.1 percent. While the United States will no longer have a clear racial or ethnic majority by the year 2050, California reached this milestone more than a decade ago, in 2000.
2. Voters of color make up a large share of California’s electorate. In 2008 Hispanic voters in California comprised over 21.4 percent of all California voters. The Asian voters in the state made up nearly 9.7 percent of state voters and the African American vote comprised nearly 7.7 percent in that year.
3. Close to half of immigrants in California are naturalized citizens—meaning that they are eligible to vote. In 2010 46 percent of California’s immigrants (4.6 million people) were naturalized U.S. citizens, up from 31.2 percent in 1990. And California has millions of potential voters that could play a decisive role in the upcoming election. There are over 2 million eligible but unregistered Latino voters in the state, and almost 2.4 million legal permanent residents who are eligible to become citizens and vote, a substantial number of potential new voters. READ MORE
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