I often hear in the media that Hispanics are “socially conservative.” For that sort of thing you do need “quick & dirty” rules-of-thumb, and the assertion seems broadly plausible. On the other hand, the Hispanic attitude toward gay marriage isn’t really that different from non-Hispanic white (see GSS MARHOMO variable). So I decided to query non-Hispanic white and Hispanic attitudes to a range of “hot-button” social issues in the GSS. I also broke it down by college vs. non-college educated cohorts. All results are from the year 2000 and later.
| White non-Hispanic | Hispanic | |||
| No college | College | No college | College | |
| Abortion on demand, yes | 38 | 53 | 28 | 47 |
| Abortion if serious defect, yes | 75 | 70 | 67 | 79 |
| Make divorce easier | 23 | 16 | 44 | 28 |
| Keep divorce laws same | 23 | 34 | 17 | 40 |
| Make divorce more difficult | 55 | 50 | 38 | 32 |
| Premarital sex always wrong | 26 | 19 | 21 | 16 |
| Premarital sex almost always wrong | 8 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
| Premarital sex sometimes wrong | 18 | 23 | 20 | 13 |
| Premarital sex not wrong at all | 47 | 50 | 49 | 64 |
| Homosexual sex always wrong | 58 | 35 | 61 | 33 |
| Homosexual sex almost always wrong | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Homosexual sex sometimes wrong | 6 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| Homosexual sex not wrong at all | 32 | 48 | 27 | 55 |
| Porn should be illegal to all | 40 | 30 | 36 | 25 |
| Porn should be illegal to under 18 | 57 | 67 | 60 | 70 |
| Porn should be legal to all | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Strongly favor spanking children | 28 | 17 | 25 | 19 |
| Favor spanking children | 47 | 44 | 44 | 43 |
| Do not favor spanking children | 19 | 28 | 22 | 20 |
| Strongly do not favor spanking children | 6 | 11 | 9 | 17 |
| Allow incurable patients to die | 72 | 72 | 58 | 76 |
| Strongly agree better for man to work, woman to tend home | 10 | 5 | 14 | 9 |
| Agree better for man to work, woman to tend home | 31 | 19 | 32 | 16 |
| Disagree better for man to work, woman to tend home | 43 | 49 | 43 | 48 |
| Strongly disagree better for man to work, woman to tend home | 16 | 28 | 11 | 27 |
These results can be used to support the proposition that Hispanics are socially conservative. But they are not of the magnitude or direction of difference that one finds when comparing evangelical white Protestants to other whites, or even blacks to whites. So though technically defensible, I think the assertion that Hispanics are socially conservative in their attitudes misleads the public somewhat.
(unless the divorce results are mis-coded, they do seem correct)
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