Asians, Latinos Back Death Law but Only 47% of Blacks Favor It

Most California Asians and Latinos supported the death penalty in a survey of minority political attitudes, while less than half of blacks favored capital punishment, a Caltech scientist reported Wednesday.

Prof. Bruce Cain said those feelings could have an impact in the quest for minority votes, as well as on the electorate at large, in next year’s state election if the battle over reconfirming California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird spills over into the races for governor and other offices.

Bird and five other justices are up for voter confirmation in the fall and conservatives, trying to change the composition of the court, are leading a strong campaign against her, charging she has thwarted the state’s death penalty law.

Telephone Poll

The survey, a telephone poll, found that 73% of Asians and 57% of Latinos backed capital punishment. That compared with 47% of the blacks surveyed and 75% of the Anglos.

Asians are a small but growing percentage of the state’s population, 5% in the 1980 Census and perhaps 7% today, Cain said. Latinos were 19% in that census and blacks 8%.

In the 1982 gubernatorial election, Democratic Mayor Tom Bradley defeated Republican Gov. George Deukmejian among Asians 49% to 42%, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll of voters leaving the polling places on election day. That survey indicated Bradley got 94% of the black vote, 74% of the Latino and 42% of white.

Cain said, “If the death penalty becomes a big issue, the Democrats could lose the Asians” because of their overwhelming support for the death penalty. And, he said, such a switch could be important if the 1986 gubernatorial race is as close as the 1982 Bradley-Deukmejian contest.

Cain said that he did not expect capital punishment to be as important in swinging the Latino vote because support for the death penalty in that community was not as strong as among Asians.

Both Bradley and Deukmejian favor capital punishment, but the governor has been a much more vocal death penalty advocate, and for a longer time, than the mayor. In addition, Deukmejian opposes Bird, while Bradley has not stated his position.

Cain said another significant finding of the study was a strong conservative feeling among Asians, stronger than most political strategists had expected.

“The accepted wisdom was that Asians were slightly disloyal Democrats,” he said.

Instead, he reported, the survey found that 67% of Asians questioned voted for President Reagan in 1984, compared to 36% of the Latinos and 6% of the blacks. Only 42% of the Asians surveyed were registered Democrats, compared to 89% of the blacks and 75% of the Latinos.

Attitudes Similar

Cain said that Asian and white attitudes resemble each other, while blacks and Latinos appear to merge in support of such issues as increased welfare spending and the equal rights amendment.

The survey found differences within minority groups.

For example, Cain said male support was greater than female support among Latinos for the death penalty, higher arms expenditures and sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The survey found generational differences among Latinos. A total of 74% of first-generation immigrants favored amnesty for illegal immigrants, compared to 58% of second-generation Latinos surveyed and 49% third generation.

Amnesty Supported

Overall, 63% of Latinos backed amnesty. So did whites, Asians and blacks, but to a lesser extent.

Cain said another significant finding was the extent of discrimination felt by each minority group. A total of 62% of blacks, 49% of Asians and 36% of Latinos said they had experienced personal discrimination.

“The nature of the discrimination experienced by the groups varied significantly,” said Cain and Roderick Kiewiet, a Caltech political science professor, in a paper accompanying their report. “A majority of black respondents said that they experienced job-related discrimination (in finding work) while the largest category for Latinos and Asians was discrimination in a social setting.”

In the survey, 1,642 people were contacted by telephone. Of these, 409 were Anglo, 335 black, 593 Latino and 305 Asian.