Section 4:Discussion of Findings
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However, what is even more interesting to see is what is the percentage of
adult citizens (by ethnic group) compared to the entire Latino adult citizen population within
each district. Table 3 summarizes the findings.
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One can observe from the chart below that Dominicans could have a significant presence in several
Congressional Districts throughout the country, namely, in New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
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In addition, many of these districts did not rank as high in the population tabulation.
The latter reinforces the idea that having a high population is not and automatic indicator
of a high citizen population.
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Table 3: Top 25 Congressional Districts with a
High Percentage of Dominican Adult Citizens Within their Latino Community
No. |
District |
Latino Adult Citizens |
% Dominican
Adult Citizen |
% Mexican
Adult Citizen |
% Puerto Rican
Adult Citizen |
% Cuban
Adult Citizen |
% Salvadorian
Adult Citizen |
% Colombian
Adult Citizen |
1 |
NY-15 |
142749 |
28.58 |
2.79 |
33.78 |
3.34 |
0.22 |
0.66 |
2 |
RI-2 |
18222 |
22.42 |
5.85 |
36.56 |
2.00 |
0.57 |
1.19 |
3 |
NY-16 |
187369 |
17.73 |
2.18 |
66.00 |
1.47 |
0.24 |
0.31 |
4 |
MA- 6 |
12393 |
17.16 |
6.81 |
29.44 |
2.91 |
0.42 |
1.04 |
5 |
MA-5 |
32618 |
14.85 |
2.47 |
57.59 |
2.07 |
0.10 |
1.59 |
6 |
NY- 5 |
70081 |
12.38 |
4.72 |
14.24 |
3.21 |
1.49 |
9.26 |
7 |
NY-12 |
144771 |
12.31 |
3.90 |
64.05 |
1.17 |
0.40 |
1.74 |
8 |
NY- 17 |
60950 |
12.03 |
3.34 |
65.38 |
3.71 |
0.69 |
1.28 |
9 |
NJ- 8 |
74150 |
11.46 |
4.91 |
43.39 |
3.70 |
0.37 |
4.79 |
10 |
NY- 10 |
51295 |
9.81 |
2.34 |
75.93 |
2.26 |
0.22 |
0.78 |
11 |
NY- 6 |
50275 |
8.78 |
1.70 |
42.47 |
3.05 |
2.45 |
5.29 |
12 |
NJ- 13 |
136769 |
7.95 |
1.81 |
43.80 |
16.73 |
1.87 |
3.70 |
13 |
NY- 7 |
117887 |
7.53 |
3.26 |
59.22 |
3.07 |
0.32 |
7.22 |
14 |
NJ- 9 |
54132 |
7.35 |
1.38 |
32.39 |
14.36 |
1.28 |
7.75 |
15 |
NY- 18 |
48351 |
7.34 |
7.53 |
31.58 |
4.46 |
0.80 |
4.48 |
16 |
RI- 1 |
13846 |
7.23 |
8.62 |
52.37 |
2.52 |
0.69 |
11.23 |
17 |
FL-17 |
63133 |
7.22 |
1.80 |
28.39 |
26.21 |
0.43 |
4.86 |
18 |
NY- 9 |
40668 |
7.14 |
2.48 |
48.33 |
4.32 |
0.82 |
8.51 |
19 |
NY- 11 |
36183 |
7.11 |
5.23 |
54.67 |
3.35 |
0.62 |
1.43 |
20 |
NY- 4 |
40708 |
6.74 |
1.92 |
22.51 |
4.23 |
9.28 |
4.16 |
21 |
MA- 9 |
12927 |
6.53 |
5.86 |
53.97 |
5.44 |
0.60 |
1.88 |
22 |
MA- 8 |
44457 |
6.16 |
5.80 |
39.92 |
3.26 |
3.24 |
3.08 |
23 |
NY- 2 |
41352 |
5.73 |
1.10 |
47.08 |
2.71 |
7.71 |
3.84 |
24 |
NJ-10 |
43150 |
5.62 |
1.66 |
51.22 |
9.77 |
1.39 |
6.79 |
25 |
NY- 23 |
6376 |
5.39 |
6.56 |
66.93 |
4.41 |
0.35 |
1.61 |
Source: 2000 US Census Bureau, 108th Congressional District Data;
author’s tabulation
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When one takes a closer look at the number of adult citizens and compares it to the "Big Six"
Latino ethnic groups, one finds that the potential power of the Dominican vote,
if registered is even larger. Thus, this is to say that if registered the Dominican
American population can be a sizable percentage of potential Latino voters and should
be recognized as such. For District 15 in NY this percentage increases to 41, in District 2
in RI it increases to 33 percent, in MA it is 30 percent of District 6 and 27 percent of District 5,
and last, in NY District 16 it is 20 percent.
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When comparing the latter figures to the percentage of Dominicans within the Latino
community one can see that in fact these figures even surpass their relative percentage population.
In District 15 of NY Dominicans are 40 percent of the Latino population, in District 2 of RI they are
28 percent, and in District 5 of NY they are 17 percent. While there is not a directly proportional
correlation between the population and citizenship, this does serve to illustrate the higher citizenship
rates suggested by the 2000 Census data.
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Therefore, if the Dominican community were to be able to develop a unified agenda within
these districts they could be able to gain leverage within these congressional offices and
even aspire to place a congressional member in office that can represent the needs of newly
arriving immigrant communities. These numbers should serve as a wake-up call to all community
based organizations who wish to work to close the gap between the percentage of adult citizens
and the relative percentage of those who are registered to vote.
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