What explains the persistent lower levels of Latino turnout in the United States? I argue that the differences in political participation between similarly situated blacks, whites, and Latinos are explained, for the most part, by the local political context in which the majority of voting eligible individuals belonging to each group has settled.  Whereas the descendants of black and white immigrants are more evenly distributed across the country, the majority of voting eligible Latinos and Asians live in places that have systematically reduced exposure to politics and opportunities to participate in electoral processes. To explore this argument, I use data from an original door-to-door survey study conducted in New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix (n= 2,300) with representative samples of hard-to-reach groups who are usually underrepresented in national phone surveys. Using multilevel regression models, I find that while there is variation in political participation across and within these four ethnic and racial groups, the differences are diminished once I account for key local institutional characteristics in these cities. In other words, while native and foreign-born Latinos and Asians living in these cities have equal rights, they do not have equal chances to develop key civic and political skills. This paper’s findings challenge cultural explanations that focus on inherited familial beliefs about politics to explain second generation immigrant group differences in political behavior.

PS 595 Credit