Poll Says Democrats Gained Among Asian Americans

In the first California presidential primary after the 1996 Democratic fund-raising scandal, which tarnished the image of the Asian American community, a significant percentage of Republican Asian Americans in Los Angeles and Orange counties crossed over and voted Democratic, according to an exit poll released Thursday.

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center’s survey of 3,000 voters--1,200 of them Asian Americans--in heavily Asian areas in the two counties showed that 45% of Asians identified themselves as Democrats in Tuesday’s election, compared to 36% in the 1996 presidential election.

Four years ago, 40% of Asian voters labeled themselves Republicans and 36% Democrats and 24% others.

The snapshot of Asian American voting patterns in 14 cities was conducted in six languages--Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and Tagalog. It took in 41 precincts in Los Angeles, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, Torrance, Gardena, Carson, Long Beach and nine poll sites in Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Westminster.

Veteran election watchers attributed the change in party allegiance to recent events.

There is no question, they said, that Asian Americans are reacting to what they view as the smearing of the entire Asian American community because of the fund-raising actions of a few, an unfair targeting of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee as a spy, and use of the word “gook” by Republic presidential candidate John McCain.

“Asian Americans are saying, ‘We’ve got to unite our voices; we can’t take this quietly lying down--and be a quiet minority,’ ” said Kathay Feng, head of the voting rights and antidiscrimination unit at the legal center.

Since the fund-raising fiasco, Asian Americans have made concerted efforts to persuade voters to become more “issue-sensitive” when choosing candidates, she said.

One of the more noteworthy projects has involved two prominent Chinese Americans, former Delaware Lt. Gov. S.B. Woo and former UC Chancellor Chang-lin Tien, who founded the “80-20” initiative last year to promote Chinese American participation in the 2000 presidential election.

These and other initiatives locally, statewide and nationally have contributed to party crossovers, observers said.

The two-county survey found that in the presidential race, Asian American voters favored Vice President Al Gore by 43% to Gov. George W. Bush’s 30%, with 19% of the voters choosing Sen. John McCain (D-Ariz.) and 7% former Sen. Bill Bradley.

By ethnicity, Gore received the highest percentage of votes from Koreans, 54%, followed by Filipinos 50%, Chinese 46%, Vietnamese 31% and Japanese 27%.

About 50% of Asian American Independents voted for Gore.

“Asian Americans have, to some degree, mirrored what happened to Latino voters,” said Stewart Kwoh, president of the legal center. “The perception of Republicans as anti-immigrant has struck a chord in a number of Asian American communities.

“Even though Democrats mishandled certain incidents like John Huang and doing the audits of everybody who had an Asian-sounding name, there is the perception that there are too many people in the Republican Party who have deep-seated paranoia about anything possibly linked to China,” he said.

Kwoh said the welfare reform law too has helped galvanize the community.

In the senatorial race, Dianne Feinstein garnered 58.6% of the Asian voters to 16.7% for Republican challenger Rep. Tom Campbell and 13.3% for Linh Dao, a Republican from Fremont.

By ethnicity, Feinstein received 70% of Filipino votes, 68% of Korean votes, 63% of the Japanese, 56% of Chinese and 39% of Vietnamese votes.

The exit poll also showed that more than 13% of the Asian voters went to the polls for the first time. Asians also had the highest percentage of voters who said they were more likely to vote with bilingual assistance.

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Asian Voting

In exit polls, 1,200 Asian Americans in 14 cities with heavily Asian populations in Los Angeles and Orange counties were among 3,000 people asked how they voted and whether bilingual help would benefit them

Asian Voter’s Choice for U.S. President in Primary

Gore: 43%

Bush: 30%

McCain: 19%

Bradley: 7%

Other: 1%

*

Asian Voter’s Choice for U.S. Senator in Primary

Feinstein: 59%

Campbell: 17%

Dao: 13%

Other: 11%

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Voters More Likely to Vote With Bilingual Help

White: 4%

Black: 16%

Latino: 42%

Asian: 53%

Source: Asian Pacific American Legal Center