Research Article: Hispanics and Environmental Voting in the US Congress

Abstract

We compare the environmental voting behavior of Hispanic congressional members with those of White and African American members, seek to explain disparities in long-term voting trends, and discuss the implications for future environmental policy development. We analyzed congressional members' voting behavior from 1995 to 2006. Multivariate regression models were employed to determine what factors explain racial disparities in voting. Hispanic members were more likely than White, but less likely than African American, to vote proenvironmentally throughout the period. Results show political party increasingly explains this difference. This is because Democrats and Republicans have become increasingly polarized around environmental issues while at the same time racial disparities in party membership in Congress, largely due to increasing Hispanic membership, have also widened. Although oil-and-gas PAC contributions, region, and other variables are also significant predictors of proenvironmental voting, these variables are secondary to party. Our results add to the building evidence that racial/ethnic minorities are as supportive, if not more supportive, of environmental protection policies as their White counterparts. There has been little research on environmental voting behaviors of Hispanic congressional members. Although the number of Hispanic representatives has to date been relatively small (N = 24 in the 109th Congress), our results lend insight into the changing demographics of the Congress and how this may affect American environmental policy development in the future.