Latin America

The study was conducted for Pew Hispanic Center via telephone by International Communications Research, an independent research company.

Strict requirements, insufficient information about registration procedures and lack of public interest hobbled Mexico's first effort to conduct absentee voting among its more than ten million adult citizens living in the United States.

The vast majority of undocumented migrants from Mexico were gainfully employed before they left for the United States. Thus, failure to find work at home does not seem to be the primary reason that the estimated 6.3 million undocumented migrants from Mexico have come to the U.S.

The survey findings reveal whether the migrants would vote if they could and which segments of the migrant population are likely to meet key eligibility requirements.

Most Mexican migrants want to remain in this country indefinitely but would participate in a temporary worker program that granted them legal status for a time and eventually required them to return to Mexico.