Yet another analysis tries to explain the Latino vote — with an unique twist

LatinaLista — Just when we thought there had been enough analysis of the 2008 Latino vote — What more can be said? —here comes a new analysis that, at the least, puts a unique spin on dull polls.
In all honesty, there’s not one shred of new news but this poll by the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) makes looking at the results not only interesting but immediately relevant.

The Christian Science Monitor’s Patchwork Nation.
(Source: Christian Science Monitor)
The CSM has taken the nation’s demographic data and broken it down into 11 identifiable community types. With names like:
Boom Towns – Midsize cities and smaller towns with well-balanced economies of affluence, education, and professional employment;
Military Bastions -High levels of employment in military or related government employment; often adjacent to major military installations, private military contractors, or have a history of military-dependent economies; middle income, transient, younger populations, with some trade and service workers in the local economy;
Campus and Careers – High percentage of the population between 18-34, few retirees or elderly; includes university/college towns and locations with high employment in education and educational services; high levels of formal education; religious diversity, secularism;
Immigration Nation — High percentages of Latinos and Asians; immigrants living in midsize to larger cities; moderately high levels of unemployment; Roman Catholic with sprinkling of religious diversity; lower income with moderate to high percentage in poverty;
Minority Central – you get the idea.
These community types comprise what CSM editors call the Patchwork Nation.
In the CSM election poll analysis, they use these community types in identifying Latino voters. The result is that it’s easier to see just exactly where voting Latinos live.

And no, they all don’t live in Minority Central either.

One thing to keep in mind in reviewing these figures is that the Latino population is not evenly spread across these communities. Latinos appear to vote the most Republican in the areas where they are least concentrated – specifically in “Military Bastions” and “Service Worker Centers,” where they make up a rather small percentage of the total population. In areas where they find themselves in greater concentration, they vote heavily Democratic, as in the “Monied ’Burbs” and in “Boom Towns.”

What is really interesting about this analysis is that when Latinos are identified by these descriptive “monikers” it makes it easy to identify probable trends in voting behavior, and as the authors of the analysis try to do, show Republicans where they have to go to start garnering the Latino votes.
Talk about spoonfeeding!
It seems like everyone but the Republicans themselves are interested in how the GOP can reach the Latino electorate. BTW, Latina Lista has contacted the Republican National Party to see if its new Chairman, Michael Steele, would like to be a Guest Voz on Latina Lista.
So far, nada but silence!