DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36680.v1
title: 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study (LINES)
title: Version 1

description: The 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study (LINES) is a nationally representative telephone survey of Latino immigrants, the majority of whom were not U.S. citizens. It was administered in two waves. One survey wave was conducted during the fall campaign (N = 853); and a follow-up wave took place immediately after the election (N = 437 respondents from the pre-election survey plus 451 fresh respondents, for a total of 888). The questionnaire instrumentation used in the study was largely adapted from item wordings in the 2012 American National Election Study (ANES). The survey focuses on immigrant civic engagement and political socialization, including items on immigrant attitudes, opinions and electoral and non-electoral political behavior.
description: The purpose of the study was to understand how politically engaged are Latino immigrants compared to Latinos who were born and raised in the United States or African Americans or Whites. The study examined whether immigrants without voting rights are less inclined to take part in civic life than other individuals in the United States and whether immigrants who remained involved in politics in their country of birth are less likely to follow public affairs in the United States.
description: The study, a nationally representative telephone survey of foreign-born adult residents of the United States who emigrated from one of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, interviewed respondents both pre and post the 2012 presidential election. The first installment of the study was fielded at the height of the campaign season, between October 10 and November 5, 2012. In total, 853 immigrants took part in the preelection survey. Following the elections on November 6, 2012, as many immigrants as possible were contacted again. The fielding period for this installment lasted until December 20, 2012. A total of 435 participants from the preelection study took part in this second round, for a recontact rate of 51 percent. Professional bilingual interviewers conducted the surveys; most were in Spanish.
description: Included in the study were variables pertaining to Socio-Demographics, such as education, income, gender, age, marital status, country of birth, time in the United States, and civic status. Other variables included in the study were political preference, religious preference, civic participation, and perceived discrimination. In addition a number of politically relevant county and census tract-level variables have been incorporated in the study, including age distributions, home values, education levels, percent receiving public assistance, and size of the noncitizen population.
description: A weighting variable was calculated based on the distributions for educational group, age group, and gender. Weighting the LINES data allows these distributions to match the 2011 American Community Survey (ACS).
description: Response Rates: Response Rate (AAPOR RR4) = .320; Cooperation Rate = .954
description: Presence of Common Scales: Much of the instrumentation was adapted from the 2012 American National Election Study.
description: Adult United States immigrants from one of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America were eligible to participate in the study. Interviews were conducted by telephone. Contact information for respondents was obtained from the marketing research firm Geoscape; both landlines and cellular numbers were randomly selected for national coverage. Sampling was not conditional on naturalization status.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study DS2: 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study, restricted use
description: Foreign-born adult residents of the United States who emigrated from one of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census tract
description: telephone interview