Number of Potential Immigrant Voters on the Rise in Key Super Tuesday...
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http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/03/05/number-of-potential-immigran...
Categories: Demographics, Elections, Immigration Blog, Integration
by Rob Paral
March 5, 2012
Three of the twelve
states holding
Republican primaries
or caucuses on Super
Tuesday—Georgia,
Massachusetts and
Virginia—show
especially strong
trends in the numbers
of foreign-born
residents who have
become U.S. citizens.
This trend is
significant given that
these new Americans
are able to register
and vote. Immigrant
communities in each
of these states are
large, exceeding
800,000 persons, and
make up almost 10%
or more of the
statewide population. In fact, these three states are home to 71% of all immigrants living in the Super Tuesday states.
While we don’t yet know how many of these naturalized U.S. citizens will vote on Super Tuesday or in the general election,
GOP presidential candidates—many of whom have taken a hard line on immigration—would do well to take note of this
trend.
Georgia, Massachusetts and Virginia have by far the fastest increases in naturalization. The percent of immigrants who
are citizens increased by 4.5 percentage points in Georgia, 4.7 in Massachusetts and 3.5 in Virginia. In other states with
smaller immigrant populations, the naturalization rates rose more slowly or declined.
3/5/2012 3:37 PM
Number of Potential Immigrant Voters on the Rise in Key Super Tuesday...
2 of 2
http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/03/05/number-of-potential-immigran...
Perhaps these three states’ large immigrant populations form a critical mass, which supports the existence of immigrantserving organizations that promote naturalization. These organizations also likely garner support from elected officials,
who know that naturalization can tip the balance in elections.
Moreover, these trends suggest that more, not fewer, immigrants in a state lead to greater immigrant integration,
naturalization and civic participation. Candidates and elected officials who care about winning elections would do well to
support immigrants’ efforts to naturalize, rather than focus solely on hard line immigration enforcement policies. After all, a
newly naturalized citizen is a potential new voter.
Photo by Columbia City Blog.
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3/5/2012 3:37 PM