The Riddle of Immigrant Voting

Immigration is one of the defining issues of the 2016 election, but does that mean it will bring out immigrants to the polls? Naturalized Americans, who hail disproportionately from Latin America and Asia, certainly have the potential to put Hillary Clinton over the top: In the 2012 presidential contest, more than 70 percent of both Latinos and Asians voted for President Obama. This year, however, polls show that despite the threat posed to immigrant communities by the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, Clinton is doing no better against Trump—and perhaps worse—than Obama did against Mitt Romney four years ago. Similarly, there are no clear indications that Latino and Asian turnout will grow more than incrementally from their lackluster levels of 2012.