Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Fully three-quarters of Hispanics living in the U.S. say their community needs a national leader. But the vast majority say they don't know who that person is, or say such a leader simply doesn't exist.
That's one key finding from a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.
According to Pew's Mark Hugo Lopez, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R- Fla.) were the most often mentioned as national leaders. But each were only cited by about 5 percent of survey respondents. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was named by 3 percent.
Among the other findings: 78 percent of those surveyed says Latinos share at least some values in common. More than half refer to themselves by their country of origin, such as Salvadoran or Mexican. Still, nearly half say they consider themselves to be a typical American.
The Latino population in the U.S stands at more than 53 million, and it is among the nation's fastest-growing groups.
The Pew Center surveyed more than 5,000 people, conducting interviews in both Spanish and English.