I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A poll by the Pew Hispanic Center finds little evidence of a boycott of the census by foreign-born Hispanics. The poll finds that 91 percent of foreign Hispanics, versus just 78 percent of those born in the United States, say that they have already or will definitely mail in a census form.
In fact, foreign-born Hispanics have more positive views of the importance, confidentiality and trust of the census than their native-born counterparts, perhaps because of a media-blitz aimed at Spanish-speaking household to fill out the census. There have been fears that Hispanics, especially foreign-born Hispanics, would boycott the census because of slow work on an immigration reform bill from Congress or fears from those here illegally that the information would be used to deport them.
This poll shows that 69 percent of foreign-born Hispanics are confident that the information collected in the census will be kept confidential, while just 57 percent of native-born Hispanics have the same view.
The U.S. Census Bureau has spent more than $25 million in advertising aimed at the Hispanic community and groups like Voto Latino have also spent money convincing the Hispanic community that participating in the census is important. That is nearly 20 percent of the money the census budgeted for advertising.
This led to 48 percent of Hispanics, and 56 percent of foreign-born Hispanics, saying they have seen or heard something from Hispanic or Latino “civic, religious, media or community groups” that encourages participation in the census.
According to the 2000 Census, New Mexico is 42 percent Hispanic. The census does not ask those polled whether or not they are in the country legally.
Census funds are used not only for redistricting in both federal and state races, but to allocate funding for roads, hospitals, Medicare, Medicaid and other governmental programs.
The poll of 1,003 Hispanics across the United States was conducted from March 16-25 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.
