The Ethnicity Factor in the Vote Against Bilingual Education in California
Abstract
The paper examines voting results in a California ballot initiative by county to determine patterns of support for bilingual education controlled for concentration of ethnic minorities. The paper theorizes that a direct relationship exists between level of Hispanic population and opposition to bilingual education. Specifically, we hypothesize that when Hispanic population exceeds thirty percent, the opposition vote will be significantly increased. If correct, this suggests polarization rather than tolerance is stimulated with increased inter-ethnic contact.