Why the Asian American vote has been trending Democratic

[FerrisBueller86]

As an Asian American Democrat, I find this trend to be a silver lining since the 2000 election.

I have read a number of articles on why this has been the case.  I'd like to hear from those of you who are Asian Americans who have switched from voting Republican to voting Democrat and from those of you know know the Asian Americans who have participated in this trend.

I've also read that a disproportionate number of Asian Americans were undecided voters in the past election.

One issue that I've thought of that I haven't seen anyone discuss is education.  This is considered an important issue in the Asian American community, and George W. Bush doesn't come across as the brightest bulb.  Also, a disproportionate number of Asian Americans have college degrees and are thus well-positioned to see through the phoniness of the No Child Left Untested fiasco.  I'm wondering if this is a reason Bush did far worse than Dole and his father among Asian Americans. 

I'm not a very good bellwether, and neither is my family, as we've always been strongly Democratic.  So I can only speculate on the reasons.  I'd like to hear some personal stories.

[Alcon]

First of all, congratulations on being one of the six non-whites in the state of Iowa.

I fundamentally agree with what you say - Asian-Americans tend to be more likely to have college degrees than whites or any other groups, and are also less likely to be evangelical Christians.  Their poor tend to be immigrants, and are more likely to live in liberal areas than poor whites.

Good analysis.

[ATFFL]

One issue that I've thought of that I haven't seen anyone discuss is education.  This is considered an important issue in the Asian American community, and George W. Bush doesn't come across as the brightest bulb.  Also, a disproportionate number of Asian Americans have college degrees and are thus well-positioned to see through the phoniness of the No Child Left Untested fiasco.  I'm wondering if this is a reason Bush did far worse than Dole and his father among Asian Americans. 

Overall Bush lost the total College grad demographic very narrowly.  Really, it was a statistical tie.   He won the group without postgrad education outright.

Bush also increased his percentage of the Asian vote.

[Defarge]

Another Asian American! Excellent! Chinese? Japanese? Korean?

I absolutely agree with your analysis, Asians, usually having advanced educations, thus tended to vote Democratic, as the exit polls showed on both counts.

In terms of personal stories, the entirety of my Chinese side of the family voted Democratic, except for my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin who converted to Christianity during the 90's.  I was trashing Bush at a dinner table conversation, and didn't even know they were Republicans until that night.  When i asked my cousin (an apathetic 19 year old) why she voted for Bush, she said gay marriage.  She didn't seem to have any idea about any other issues.

I'm not sure about my Japanese side of the family, but I'm pretty sure they all voted Democratic.

[MaC]

Really, it was a statistical tie. 

A stastistically signifigant tie? 

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Really, it was a statistical tie. 

A stastistically signifigant tie? 

No such thing

[Hatman 🍁]

I would disagree that Asians arent evangelical christians. At least not when it comes to Canada (totally irrelevant I know) but, some of the biggest opponents of same-sex marriage have been the Chinese christian groups.

[minionofmidas]

One factor would be increased participation.
Different Asian-American groups don't vote alike after all. Vietnamese vote very conservative (they're sorta Diet Cubans...) for example. I'd suppose that in a generally low turnout election like 96, they might have cast a higher share of the overall Asian vote.
Be that as it may, certainly the no. of Asians with the right to vote, and the no. of Asian voters overall, is climbing fast enough for the 96 to 2000 swing to be caused more by Dems gaining new voters than by Dems gaining former Rep voters.

[Gustaf]

The Asians I've encountered in Sweden have all appeared to be quite conservative on most issues, but largely meritocratic and hostile towards the rich. This makes them instinctively support the social democrats, though they're generally closer to the conservatives on the issues. However, the vast majority are very apolitical, they're more interested in stuff directly concerning their own lives.

But that's Sweden, I wouldn't know about the US of course...

[Virginian87]

I would say it's almost evenly split between the two parties.  Some more old-fashioned Asian families are probably more likely to be Republican, but on the whole, like most minorities, they are slowly moving to vote Democratic.

[Alcon]

I would say it's almost evenly split between the two parties.  Some more old-fashioned Asian families are probably more likely to be Republican, but on the whole, like most minorities, they are slowly moving to vote Democratic.

I think that most minorities are already there - Hispanics trended GOP this election, while blacks were pretty much unchanged, voting heavily Democratic.

[FerrisBueller86]

Another Asian American! Excellent! Chinese? Japanese? Korean?

I'm Chinese.

[phk]

I think they aren't really trending Democratic, just participating more.

[memphis]

As an Asian American Democrat, I find this trend to be a silver lining since the 2000 election.

I have read a number of articles on why this has been the case.  I'd like to hear from those of you who are Asian Americans who have switched from voting Republican to voting Democrat and from those of you know know the Asian Americans who have participated in this trend.

I've also read that a disproportionate number of Asian Americans were undecided voters in the past election.

One issue that I've thought of that I haven't seen anyone discuss is education.  This is considered an important issue in the Asian American community, and George W. Bush doesn't come across as the brightest bulb.  Also, a disproportionate number of Asian Americans have college degrees and are thus well-positioned to see through the phoniness of the No Child Left Untested fiasco.  I'm wondering if this is a reason Bush did far worse than Dole and his father among Asian Americans. 

I'm not a very good bellwether, and neither is my family, as we've always been strongly Democratic.  So I can only speculate on the reasons.  I'd like to hear some personal stories.

The Bush administration has come out for intelligent design and against stem-cell research. These positions hurt him in scientific circles, which are disproportionately Asian. Also, Asians tend to live in major metropolitan areas.

[socaldem]

As an Asian American Democrat, I find this trend to be a silver lining since the 2000 election.

I have read a number of articles on why this has been the case.  I'd like to hear from those of you who are Asian Americans who have switched from voting Republican to voting Democrat and from those of you know know the Asian Americans who have participated in this trend.

I've also read that a disproportionate number of Asian Americans were undecided voters in the past election.

One issue that I've thought of that I haven't seen anyone discuss is education.  This is considered an important issue in the Asian American community, and George W. Bush doesn't come across as the brightest bulb.  Also, a disproportionate number of Asian Americans have college degrees and are thus well-positioned to see through the phoniness of the No Child Left Untested fiasco.  I'm wondering if this is a reason Bush did far worse than Dole and his father among Asian Americans. 

I'm not a very good bellwether, and neither is my family, as we've always been strongly Democratic.  So I can only speculate on the reasons.  I'd like to hear some personal stories.

I hail from the SGV, home to probably the largest Asian community in America and, it seems, a developing Asian-American political machine... the state assembly seat based in Monterey Park/Alhambra, currently held by Judy Chu, is probably one of the only legislative positions in the country (outside of HI) that will almost always elect an Asian-American...

In the Asian-American community in L.A. county, I'd guess there might be a tendency towards the Democratic party as community leaders become prominent Democratic politicians.  Asian-Americans serving the L.A. area also include my assemblywoman, the wonderful Carol Liu, representing Democratic Arcadia and wealthy Republican Asian-Americans in Arcadia and San Marino.... I would venture to guess that rich business people like those living in those areas are probably heavily Republican, though they are probably willing to support an Asian-American democrat over a white Republican in local races...they also are moderate, supporting things like public education, etc... and I'd guess that their children--who are likely to attend UCs--may be more Democratic...

While the Chinese/Taiwanese communities in the SGV are thriving politically, the Asian (mainly Japanese) community in South L.A./Torrance seems to be getting more active, supporting Asian Americans like Furutani, who is going to move from the college board to the assembly in '06... the community was also instrumetnal in electing Dem Ted Lieu to the assembly...

The exception to the growing influence of Asian-American Democratic communities is among Vietnamese-Americans down in O.C. who have always been very Republican.  They just elected Van Tran to the assembly... Vietnamese are to Asian-Americans as Cubans are to Latinos.  If Democrats can make inroads in the Vietnamese community, then it would be phenomenal for their chances of gaining strength in Orange County...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Bush administration has come out for intelligent design and against stem-cell research. These positions hurt him in scientific circles, which are disproportionately Asian.

that's a good point. unfortunatley, there aren't any real swing states with a significant Asian American population. Unless you consider Washington a swing state. I think that's why we haven't seen any real reach out attempts like we have with Hispanics.

[socaldem]

The Bush administration has come out for intelligent design and against stem-cell research. These positions hurt him in scientific circles, which are disproportionately Asian.

that's a good point. unfortunatley, there aren't any real swing states with a significant Asian American population. Unless you consider Washington a swing state. I think that's why we haven't seen any real reach out attempts like we have with Hispanics

There's a growing Asian-American community in NOVA which Dems can use to help keep pushing Virginia in the purple direction...

Also in Texas, its notable that as Dems try to gain control of Harris County, Asian-Americans have been of some help...and in the long-term as the Hispanic population growth and the sunset of Bush turns texas purpler...

But, yeah, other than that, you're right...Asians actually tend to be more conservative than the whites they are around in places like the Bay Area or Washington or even L.A.

[phk]

The Bush administration has come out for intelligent design and against stem-cell research. These positions hurt him in scientific circles, which are disproportionately Asian.

that's a good point. unfortunatley, there aren't any real swing states with a significant Asian American population. Unless you consider Washington a swing state. I think that's why we haven't seen any real reach out attempts like we have with Hispanics

There's a growing Asian-American community in NOVA which Dems can use to help keep pushing Virginia in the purple direction...

Also in Texas, its notable that as Dems try to gain control of Harris County, Asian-Americans have been of some help...and in the long-term as the Hispanic population growth and the sunset of Bush turns texas purpler...

But, yeah, other than that, you're right...Asians actually tend to be more conservative than the whites they are around in places like the Bay Area or Washington or even L.A.

Asians have more of the "good student" type of conservatism rather than the "hardcore religous" conservativism.

[Jake]

Another Asian American! Excellent! Chinese? Japanese? Korean?

I'm Chinese.

Quiet Chow Mein

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Quiet, you

Another Asian American! Excellent! Chinese? Japanese? Korean?

I'm Chinese.

Quiet Chow Mein

Quiet White boy

[Defarge]

Better than getting called "duck sauce"

[Everett]

Hahahaha, I wonder what insult Jake will use with me.

[phk]

In short, they are just participating more and the Vietnamese-American vote is losing its power.