Due to the growth of the Hispanic community and other immigrant groups in the United States, politicians in office do not represent the majority of the population.

According to a study by the Center for Urban Research at the City University of New York, the percentage of Hispanic elected officials is equivalent to the number of Latinos that lived in the city 20 years ago. The study was conducted in Los Angeles and New York; two-fifths of all immigrants in this country live in those two cities.

John Mollenkopf, one of the main authors of “People and Politics in America's Big Cities: The Challenges to Urban Democracy,” noted that Latinos and Asians are becoming more numerous in cities that previously were inhabited almost entirely by whites and African-Americans.

The political expert also stated that the percentage of white elected officials in legislative bodies in these cities is much greater than the percentage of white citizens in the area represented. African-Americans have equitable representation in government.

“In many cases, Latinos are not U.S. citizens,” explained Mollenkopf, “and often the community is not well organized. For example, sometimes they have too many candidates for the same office.”

The old alliances between different minority groups, like the political unity of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans in New York City, seem to be weakening, according to the report. In the past, these alliances, which are primarily found within the Democratic Party, have resulted in the election of African-American candidates, as in the case of Mayor David Dinkins.

Population changes and the arrival of new immigrant groups may be some of the reasons that the political landscape of minority groups is changing. Historically, minority groups have been loyal to the Democratic Party.

Latino communities that have been in New York the longest— like the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities—continue to vote Democrat. According to an opinion poll Mollenkopf held during the gubernatorial elections, the majority of residents in the South Bronx and Washington Heights—Puerto Ricans and Dominicans—voted for the Democratic candidate, Carl McCall.

But many Latinos in Queens and Brooklyn voted for George Pataki, the Republican candidate who obtained the largest number of Hispanic votes in the history of the state of New York.

The study also showed that in spite of the fact that Los Angeles and New York are very diverse cities, the levels of segregation between whites, African-Americans, Latinos and Asians, especially in New York, are higher than those in the rest of the country.

This study was presented at a conference organized in part by the Drum Major Institute.