We know that the majority of Puerto Rico voters, as well as the majority of Americans as a whole, want statehood for Puerto Rico. The evidence for this is clear: majority-statehood votes in every plebiscite held in this century, majority for statehood in every scientific poll during this century, and zero governors or resident commissioners elected from the Independence Party ever. A new national survey of Hispanic voters, including Puerto Ricans, confirms this fact, showing that more than two thirds of all respondents favor statehood. But which Puerto Rican voters are in the statehood camp? The new survey breaks it down.
Who supports statehood? The majority.
The first thing we can see from the data in the chart above is that every single number in every column showing approval of statehood is larger than 50%. Younger, older, Republican, Democrat, independent, male, female, religious or not — the majority of every single group of voters chose statehood.
This survey is a national survey by the respected national polling firm of McLaughlin & Associates. More than 1,400 Hispanic people who were planning to vote participated in the survey. Like surveys by other respected organizations like Gallup and Pew Research, they saw a majority favoring statehood. If you see surveys saying otherwise, check the data throughly. You may find that they asked 12 college students in one town and got a different result from the national polls professionally conducted over the decades. Any honest comparison of the evidence will conclude that statehood is the top choice.
Does one party support statehood more than another?
In Puerto Rico, yes. There is a statehood party in Puerto Rico and they support statehood more than the much smaller Independence Party. The new survey compared the national parties: Republicans and Democrats. Among all Hispanic voters, there was no difference at all. 70% of Democrats and 70% of Republicans favored statehood.
Among Puerto Rican voters, there was a difference. The Democratic respondents still showed majority support for statehood, but 69% favored statehood. 78% of Republicans supported statehood. Independents in both groups had smaller majorities (60% for all Hispanic voters and 64% for Puerto Ricans).
Do young people want independence?
We often hear the claim that well, yes, Puerto Rico voters have chosen statehood for decades, but the younger people want independence. The new survey cuts that claim down to size.
Among people ages 16-34, 63% of Hispanic voters and 68% of Puerto Rican voters choose statehood.
Asked how important statehood was to them, 76% of younger respondents said it was important and 58% said it was very important.
Given a choice between statehood and independence, younger voters did choose independence more often than older voters — but again the majority chose statehood.
The real question
There is plenty of evidence that Puerto Rico wants statehood. This is not really a controversial claim, though separatists fight valiantly to make it seem as though it is. The real question is whether Congress will continue to disregard this fact. Government by consent of the governed is a central tenet of American democracy. Now the Puerto Rico has clearly rejected territory status and demanded statehood, Congress cannot in good conscience ignore the demands. Remind your legislators to get on the right side of history.
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