January 2, 2008
Written by C.N.
Young Asian Americans Leaning More Democratic
On the eve of the Iowa caucus, officially kicking off the 2008 Presidential race, here’s a post for the politically-minded.
As reflected in my article on the 2004 Elections, national-level aggregate data tends to show that in terms of political affiliation among those stating a preference, about two-thirds of all Asian Americans lean Democratic and the other third identify with the Republicans.
But as reported by Politico.com, new data from a Harvard research team shows that among young Asian Americans, the percentage who lean Democratic is much higher:
The Institute of Politics at Harvard University recently released data from an online survey of 2,525 18- to 24-year-olds. Among the survey’s more notable statistics are those concerning party affiliation among Asian-Americans: 47 percent identify themselves as Democratic, 15 percent Republican and 39 percent independent — making them more Democratic than any other ethnic group except African-Americans in the survey. . . .
Young Asian-Americans are significantly more Democratic than young whites, who are roughly evenly split between the two major parties. And Asian-Americans of all ages have been trending Democratic for years. But they were once a dependable Republican constituency. According to data from the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, former President George H.W. Bush got 24 percent more of the Asian-American vote than did Bill Clinton in 1992.
The article goes on to note that some factors that have likely contributed to this Democratic trend among young Asian Americans are the Republicans’ general negativity toward immigration (even when it’s legal) and high-profile racial incidents like Sen. George Allen’s “macaca” slur, all of which have apparently struck a nerve with young Asian Americans.
As I wrote about in my other blog on similar political trends among Latino Americans, the Republican party seems to be digging itself a pretty big hole here with these two racial/ethnic groups. Their harsh and partisan positions against immigration (yes, including legal) has clearly alienated many young Asian and Latino Americans.
What should be even more disturbing for Republicans is that Asian and Latino Americans also happen to be the two fastest-growing racial/ethnic groups in the country.
Author Citation
Copyright © 2001- by C.N. Le. Some rights reserved. 
Suggested reference: Le, C.N. . "Young Asian Americans Leaning More Democratic" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2008/01/young-asian-americans-leaning-more-democratic/> ().
Short URL: https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/?p=529
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