Voters of Asian Heritage Slow to Claim Voice

Looking across the mosaic of California, it is easy to find American success stories among people of Asian descent in business, academia and elsewhere. But success in politics is harder to find. And that primarily is because Asian-Americans still are not fully participating in American democracy.

And until they do, it is clear, they never will realize their potential political clout, despite rapidly growing numbers.

This is a frustrating dilemma for California’s relatively few politicians of Asian descent, who see their ethnic communities only gradually becoming politically involved.

Matthew Fong, a member of the State Board of Equalization from Los Angeles and the son of veteran California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, says Asian-Americans have moved “light years” in political participation since his mother began running for office three decades ago. “But they still are not participating at the level they should be,” he notes.

Michael Woo, the former Los Angeles city councilman and recently unsuccessful mayoral candidate, laments that “it takes a lot of cultivation and maintenance” to attract Asian-American political activism and votes.

The mayoral race illustrates the point:

Although Asian-Americans make up 11% of the city’s voting-age population, they accounted for only 4% of the votes, according to a Times exit poll. Anglos, on the other hand, were overrepresented in the ballot booths, based on their share of the population. They cast 72% of the votes while representing 42% of the voting-age residents. African-Americans voted about in the same proportion as their slice of the population. But the Latino turnout was as bad as that of Asian-Americans.

Interestingly, Anglos voted for winner Richard Riordan by 2-to-1, and Asian-Americans sided with Woo by roughly the same lopsided ratio. Blacks and Latinos also supported Woo. It all added up to another illustration of why Anglos are maintaining their political power despite a steadily declining share of the California population.

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According to the state Finance Department, the Anglo share of California’s voting-age population dropped during the 1980s from 71% to 61%, while the percentage of Asian-Americans nearly doubled from 5% to 9% and Latinos grew from 16% to 22%. The black share stayed at 7%.

But in last November’s presidential election, Anglos accounted for 82% of the California electorate, compared to just 3% for Asian-Americans, 7% for Latinos and 6% for blacks, according to a Times exit poll.

Now, a Times poll finds further evidence of political passivism among Asian-Americans in Southern California. Only 48% of the Asian-Americans surveyed said they were registered to vote, compared to 80% of Anglos and 84% of blacks. Likewise, just 47% of Latinos were registered. Part of the reason is because only 70% of Asian-Americans and 73% of Latinos reported being U.S. citizens, compared to practically all of the whites and blacks. Still, even among citizens eligible to register, just 68% of Asian-Americans and 64% of Latinos had done so--far less than among blacks and whites.

Among all Asian-Americans surveyed, only 27% reported having participated in politics in any form, such as volunteering as a campaign worker or writing an elected official. But 41% of Anglos said they had. Times Poll Director John Brennan says the survey probably even overstates the political participation of Asian-Americans, largely because only English-speaking people were interviewed.

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Although lack of citizenship and English language skills account for some Asian-American political passivism, the principal cause is cultural, according to campaign consultants and politicians. Basically, Asians through history have learned to steer clear of government; in the old country, it was corrupt and could only imprison or tax you. Even in America, Chinese were barred from owning land and Japanese were tossed in World War II internment camps.

“The parental guidance to their children was to ‘keep your head down, work hard, stay in school, get involved in business and stay away from government because it is not friendly,’ ” says Fong, 39, a Republican of Chinese ancestry who plans to run for state treasurer next year.

Woo, 41, a Democrat of Chinese heritage who is considering a race for secretary of state, also blames an absence of Asian-American role models who could generate political activism.

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), 71, whose parents migrated from Japan, last November became the first Asian-American to be elected to the Legislature in 12 years. He has seen a lot--from internment camp barbed wire to the speaker’s microphone at national political conventions. And he is optimistic. “I’ve seen a complete turnaround in my lifetime,” he says.