Cinco de Mayo, which comes this Sunday, has in the past few decades become widely celebrated in the United States, and not just among the 33.7 million U.S. residents of Mexican origin. (It’s not, as sometimes thought, Mexico’s Independence Day — that’s Sept. 16. Rather, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the 1862 victory of Mexican forces over an invading French army at the Battle of Puebla.)

Cinco de Mayo also is a good time to take a look at how Mexicans in the United States view their identity. A 2011 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 52% of U.S. Hispanics of Mexican origin usually described themselves as “Mexican” or “Mexicano,” while 26% described themselves as Hispanic or Latino and 19% most often said they were American.

But those favored descriptors shift markedly across the generations. While two-thirds of Mexican immigrants used “Mexican,” only 39% of second-generation Mexicans and 32%  of third-generation Mexicans did so. Conversely, while just 3% of Mexican immigrants called themselves American, 35% of second-generation and 45% of third-generation Mexicans did.

A similar trend showed up when Mexican-origin Hispanics were asked whether or not they considered themselves typical Americans. While only 29% of Mexican immigrants described themselves that way, 60% of second-generation Mexicans and 71% of third-generation Mexicans did so.

While it’s a federal holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo isn’t considered a particularly major one (except in Puebla State, where the battle occured). But many U.S. cities will mark Cinco de Mayo with parades, street festivals and other public celebrations of Mexican heritage and culture.

Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at the Pew Research Center.

Cinco de Mayo also is a good time to take a look at how Mexicans in the United States view their identity. A 2011 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 52% of U.S. Hispanics of Mexican origin usually described themselves as “Mexican” or “Mexicano,” while 26% described themselves as Hispanic or Latino and 19% most often said they were American.

But those favored descriptors shift markedly across the generations. While two-thirds of Mexican immigrants used “Mexican,” only 39% of second-generation Mexicans and 32%  of third-generation Mexicans did so. Conversely, while just 3% of Mexican immigrants called themselves American, 35% of second-generation and 45% of third-generation Mexicans did.

A similar trend showed up when Mexican-origin Hispanics were asked whether or not they considered themselves typical Americans. While only 29% of Mexican immigrants described themselves that way, 60% of second-generation Mexicans and 71% of third-generation Mexicans did so.

While it’s a federal holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo isn’t considered a particularly major one (except in Puebla State, where the battle occured). But many U.S. cities will mark Cinco de Mayo with parades, street festivals and other public celebrations of Mexican heritage and culture.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently published “When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity.” The report was based on a new nationwide survey that found most Hispanics don’t embrace the term “Hispanic.” And even fewer prefer the term “Latino.”

In the days following the release, hundreds of people offered their observations on social media, and scores of newspapers and websites published articles, commentaries and editorials. Some of our readers emailed us with their own opinions and stories.

It’s a fascinating topic, and we’d like to continue the conversation. So we invited journalists, scholars and civic leaders to share their views. Each day for the next two weeks, we will publish one of these commentaries here. We also invite you to join the discussion. Share your thoughts, views and personal stories about your own identity on our Pew Hispanic Center Facebook page.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently published “When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity.” The report was based on a new nationwide survey that found most Hispanics don’t embrace the term “Hispanic.” And even fewer prefer the term “Latino.”

In the days following the release, hundreds of people offered their observations on social media, and scores of newspapers and websites published articles, commentaries and editorials. Some of our readers emailed us with their own opinions and stories.

“A Conversation about Identity” brings together a group of commentators about the subject, and provides a portal to the Pew Hispanic Center’s Facebook page where others can add their comments.

Visit the Hispanic Identity page.

It has been nearly four decades since the United States government mandated the use by federal agencies of the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to categorize Americans who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries, but the labels still haven’t been fully embraced by the group to which they have been affixed.

Only about one-quarter (24%) of Hispanic adults say they most often identify themselves by “Hispanic” or “Latino,” according to a new nationwide survey of Hispanic adults by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. About half (51%) say they identify themselves most often by their family’s country or place of origin-using such terms as Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran or Dominican. And 21% say they use the term “American” most often to describe themselves. The share rises to 40% among those who were born in the U.S.

By a ratio of more than two-to-one, survey respondents say that the more than 50 million Latinos in the U.S. have many different cultures rather than a common culture. Respondents do, however, express a strong, shared connection to the Spanish language. More than eight-in-ten Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all say it is important for future generations to continue to do so.

Hispanics are also divided over how much of a common identity they share with other Americans. Just under half say they consider themselves to be very different from the typical American. And just one-in-five say they use the term “American” most often to describe their identity.

Read the full report for detailed findings on these subjects:

• Identity, pan-ethnicity and race
• The American experience
• Language use among Latinos
• Politics, values and religion

Introduction

By their own reckoning, Latinos¹ living in the United States do not have a national leader. When asked in an open-ended question to name the person they consider “the most important Latino leader in the country today,” nearly two-thirds (64%) of Latino respondents said they did not know. An additional 10% said “no one.”

These findings emerge from the 2010 National Survey of Latinos, a bilingual national survey of 1,375 Hispanic adults conducted prior to this month’s midterm elections by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

The most frequently named individual was Sonia Sotomayor, appointed last year to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some 7% of respondents said she is the most important Latino leader in the country. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) of Chicago is next at 5%. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa draws 3%, and Jorge Ramos, an anchor on Noticiero Univision, the national evening news program on the Spanish-language television network Univision, drew 2%.

No one else was named by more than 1% of respondents in the 2010 National Survey of Latinos conducted Aug. 17 through Sept. 19, 2010, by landline and cellular telephone. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For a full description of the survey methodology, see Appendix A in the full report.

In the Nov. 2, 2010 elections, three Hispanics, all of them Republican, were elected to top statewide offices: Marco Rubio won a U.S. Senate seat in Florida, Brian Sandoval was elected governor of Nevada, and Susana Martinez was elected governor of New Mexico.

The prominence of these offices conceivably could provide platforms from which any of the three could emerge as national Latino leaders, but to do so they would have to overcome some strong partisan head winds. Nationwide, Latinos supported Democratic candidates for the U.S. House this month by a wide margin, according to the National Election Pool’s national exit poll — continuing a pattern of strong Latino support for Democrats that has persisted in recent elections.

At 47 million strong, Latinos are the nation’s largest minority group, constituting more than 15% of the U.S. population. As a group, they feel increasingly targeted by ethnic bias. More than six-in-ten (61%) say that discrimination against Latinos is “a major problem” that prevents members of their ethnic group from succeeding in America, up from 47% who felt this way in 2002.²

At various times in American history, groups that have felt aggrieved have rallied behind leaders who championed their cause — be it a Susan B. Anthony, who led the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th century, or a Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the civil rights movement in the mid 20th century. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Cesar Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), played a similar role for Latinos, who at the time were a much smaller share of the U.S. population than they are now.

But there are often times when groups — be they ethnic, racial or political — do not have easily identifiable leaders. For example, in a national survey conducted after this month’s midterm elections, when Republicans were asked who they think of as the leader of the Republican Party these days, 45% said they don’t know and 13% said that “nobody” leads the party.

Today, not only are most Latinos unable to name anyone they consider a national leader, but many see divisions within the Latino community between the native-born and foreign-born. About half (45%) say they believe that immigrant Latinos and native-born Latinos are working together to achieve common political goals, but a nearly identical share (46%) say they do not believe these two groups are working together. Both the native born (who comprise 47% of the adult population of Latinos) and the foreign born (who comprise 53%) are also roughly equally divided on this question.

Continue reading the full report at pewhispanic.org.

<sub>1. The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably in this report.
2. According to a survey from Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends conducted in the fall of 2009, the American public sees Latinos as the nation’s most discriminated against group. Some 23% said Latinos experience a lot of discrimination in society today, while 18% said the same of African Americans, 10% said so of whites and 8% said the same about Asians.</sub>

Foreign-born Hispanics are more positive and knowledgeable about the 2010 U.S. Census than are native-born Hispanics, according to a nationwide survey of 1,003 Latino adults conducted March 16-25, 2010, by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

Overall, seven-in-ten (70%) Hispanics say the census is good for the Hispanic community. However, foreign-born Hispanics are more likely than native-born Hispanics to feel this way — 80% versus 57%.

Foreign-born Hispanics are also more likely than native-born Hispanics to correctly say the census cannot be used to determine whether or not someone is in the country legally — 69% versus 57%. And they are more inclined than the native born to trust the Census Bureau to keep their personal information confidential. Eight-in-ten of both groups know that the bureau is required to do so; however, among those who know this, just 66% of the native born say they believe the bureau will abide by this requirement, compared with 80% of the foreign born.

Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority ethnic group. They numbered 46.9 million, or 15.4% of the total U.S. population, in 2008, up from 35.3 million in the 2000 Census. Among all Hispanics living in this country, 62% are native born and 38% are foreign born. Among Hispanic adults, however, just 47% are native born while 53% are foreign born.

Just as the foreign born are more positive and knowledgeable about the census than the native born, so too are Spanish-speaking and bilingual Hispanics more positive and knowledgeable than English-speaking Hispanics.¹ Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) Spanish-dominant Hispanics and 69% of bilingual Hispanics say the census is good for the Hispanic community. In contrast, 53% of English-dominant Hispanics hold the same view.

Census participation rates among Hispanics have traditionally been lower than those of other groups. In the 2000 Census, the mail return rate among Hispanic households was 69%, while for non-Hispanic households it was 79%. As part of its effort to increase participation rates among groups that have historically had low levels of census participation, the Census Bureau has spent about 20% of its total advertisement budget this year on paid ads aimed at the Hispanic community, mainly Spanish speakers.

According to the Pew Hispanic survey, nearly half (48%) of all Latinos say they have seen or heard something recently from an organization encouraging them to fill out their census form. But here again, there is a significant difference between the foreign born and the native born in the share who report having seen or heard such messages — 56% versus 38%.

The outreach efforts appear to have improved attitudes toward the census among Hispanics. Among those who say they have recently seen messages encouraging participation, views of the census are more positive, knowledge of the census and its uses is greater, and a higher share say they definitely plan to send in their census forms.

The timing of the Pew Hispanic survey coincided with the arrival of 2010 Census forms in the mailboxes of most U.S. households beginning March 15, with reminder postcards arriving March 22-24. The forms ask for basic information about everyone living in the household as of April 1, 2010.

The nationwide Pew Hispanic survey was conducted on landline and cellular telephones among Hispanics ages 18 and older. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for the full sample and higher for subgroups. (For more on the methodology, see the full report)

Some of the other key findings of the survey include:

• Nearly six-in-ten (58%) foreign-born Hispanics correctly say the census is used to decide how many representatives each state will have in Congress, while half (50%) of native-born Hispanics say the same.
• When asked whether the census can be used to determine how much money communities will get from the federal government, more than seven-in-ten (72%) Latinos say yes, the census is used for this. There is no significant difference between the native and foreign born on this question.
• When asked whether the Census Bureau is supposed to keep personal information provided on the 2010 Census form confidential, more than eight-in-ten (81%) Hispanics correctly say yes.
• Among Latinos who say the information that is provided on their census form is supposed to be confidential, 75% believe the Census Bureau will do that. Foreign-born Latinos are more likely than native-born Latinos to say this — 80% versus 66%.
• Spanish speakers are the most likely to have seen messages encouraging them to fill out their census form. Nearly six-in-ten (57%) Spanish-dominant Latinos say they have seen or heard messages encouraging participation recently, as have 47% of bilingual Latinos. Less than three-in-ten (29%) English-dominant Latinos say the same.
• Relatively few Latinos (16%) say they have seen or heard something discouraging them from sending in their census form.² The foreign born are more likely than the native born to say this — 21% versus 10%.
• Some 85% of Latinos say they have either sent in their census form, or definitely will.
• Foreign-born Hispanics are more likely than native-born Hispanics to say they have sent in their census form or definitely will — 91% versus 78%.
• Among those who say they have received a census form, nearly half (48%) say their form was in both English and Spanish.

Read the full report at pewhispanic.org.

<sub>1. According to a 2009 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, 36% of Hispanic adults are Spanish dominant, 39% are bilingual and 25% are English dominant.
2. The Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, has called on Latinos to boycott the 2010 Census to protest the lack of movement in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform. Virtually every other major Latino organization has come out against the boycott and engaged in publicity efforts to counter the call for a Hispanic census boycott.</sub>