Puerto Rican Statehood has been a hot issue for several years. Currently, there are three views on this issue. The first is state-hood, second is independence, and last is for Puerto Rico to stay a territorial commonwealth of the United States.

Statehood supporters "see the United States as a union of 50 sovereign states united to give their citizens the best opportunity to succeed in life. "They believe that "Puerto Rico is in an unique position to join this union and partake of the benefits, and responsibilities, of being an integral part of the United States of America. There are economic, social, and political advantages to becoming the 51st state."

Twenty seven point one percent of Puerto Rican's who live in the United States prefer statehood . Residents of Puerto Rico voted on their status in 1993 in a non-binding advisory vote. Proponents of statehood won with 46.3 percent of the vote . The breakdown of statehood proponents in the U.S. is 57.4% of first generation, 25.7% of second generation, and 16.9% of third generation. Thirty point two percent of statehood proponents consider themselves as liberals, 22.6% are moderates, and 47.2% are conservative. The breakdown of statehood proponents based on language ability is 2.2% speak only English, 42% are better in English, 25% have no preference, 27.5 are better in Spanish, and 3.4 speak only Spanish.

In the economics of Puerto Rico, statehood has many pros. The first is that Puerto Rico will receive taxes from their citizens to build the infrastructure of the state. They will have an open market to trade with all nations that are in alliance with the U.S. With becoming a state, Puerto Rico will enjoy the benefits of America's high per capita income and low unemployment rates.

"Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States has been directly responsible for Puerto Rico having one
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