Among Latinos, Cubans Least Satisfied, Most Troubled About Future, Says New Poll

A new poll of almost 1,500 Latinos in the United States carried out by NPR, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that while Latinos are generally optimistic about the future – and their future finances – Cubans stood out as being less satisfied, and more worried about the future, compared to other groups. Their responses might seem to contrast with their relative degree of good standing on many socioeconomic indicators, which were often higher among Cubans than other Latino groups.

NPR writes that according to the poll, Cuban-Americans were among the most likely to have a bachelors’ degree or higher (26%), own a home (52%), or say they have achieved the American Dream (45%), and were the least likely group among Latinos to say they had experienced discrimination in the past year (8%). But in spite of relatively high positive indicators in these metrics of well-being, they were also most likely to say their finances were not so good or poor, with 45 percent qualifying their finances as such, compared to 32 percent of Mexicans – who were least likely to say that – and 36 percent of all Latinos.

Similarly, where 90 percent of all Latinos reported that they were satisfied with their lives overall, only 82 percent of Cubans felt that way. And 60 percent of Cubans said they were concerned that they or someone in their household might lose their job, compared to 45 percent of other Latino groups. Guillermo Grenier, a sociologist at Florida International University in Miami, told NPR in a separate article that the poll evinced a broader demographic change. "The Cubans arriving now are way poorer [than in past decades]” he said. “They're getting hired at minimum-wage jobs. They get very little, very few benefits. And their English is not great," – important even in a city like Miami, he added.