Pivotal Identity: How Competitive Elections Politicize Ethnicity

The current study advances a new theory of Latino identity politicization as a function of exposure to competitive electoral activity. using nationally representative survey data and a novel online survey experiment, the results show that Latinos exposed to a greater volume and distinct type of campaign activity in competitive elections manifest greater interest in politics, more attention to immigration reform, and more strongly politicized identity attachments than Latinos in safe elections. The experiment leverages pre-treatment exposure to competitive elections to test whether reminders of competitiveness interact with actual exposure in predictable ways, finding support for a mixed socialization and strategic identification mechanism of ethnic politicization in which competitive campaigns teach Latinos the value of their ethnic identity in politics, while perceptions of electoral influence empower them to make strategic political choices. Findings extend prior work on electoral closeness and pivotally, highlighting the importance of political geography and electoral campaigns for understanding contemporary patterns of Latino voting and identity politics in America.