Voting poll targets Asian community

Published: Thursday, December 10, 1998

Thursday, December 10, 1998

TRENDS: Demographics of minorities see interest in issues, not affiliation

By Karla Y. Pleitez

Daily Bruin Contributor

Asian Americans are voting more, and they have different concerns than other minority groups, according to a 1998 exit poll by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC).

This was the largest poll of Asian Americans in Southern California. Coordinators say that the purpose of the poll was to learn more about the political involvement and trends of the Asian American community.

This survey is important to Asian American college students because they will be the future community advocates, according to Dan Ichinose, the research coordinator for APALC.

"In order for these leaders to be able to properly assist our community they must know their concerns," he said.

The Southern California APALC conducted the exit poll of voters on Nov. 3. The group surveyed 3,400 individuals in cities with large populations of Asian Americans.

The survey found that Asian Americans polled were primarily interested in issues of crime, healthcare and education. Asian Americans surveyed placed less importance on minority rights than did Latinos and African Americans. However, their stance on immigration was like that of Latinos.

"Almost two-thirds of Asians are immigrants," said Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center. "It is a new community that is rapidly growing, and like Latinos, they are fighting immigrant attacks by exercising their voting power."

APALC is a non-profit organization that provides direct legal services to low-income families in the Asian community.

The poll was conducted with the help of staff, students, community members and volunteers who asked voters to complete a survey as they exited their polling places.

"I was thrilled that my students were so eager to volunteer with the study," Wong said.

"The study was an amazing learning experience that helped students come face to face with issues confronting our community," he said.

The study also revealed that over 21 percent of Asian Americans are not affiliated with either Democrats or Republicans but are more interested in the issues candidates focus on than their party affiliation.

"This community comes from political systems that gave them no rights. And having a party affiliation usually meant death or serious punishment," Ichinose said.

Asian Americans are considered a swing voting community because they do not tend to affiliate with one party, meaning that their votes can be "swung" to support candidates of any party.

"Political candidates understand that the Asian community is growing and they have a lot of power in swinging the vote towards one candidate," said Kathay Feng, the staff attorney for APALC.

The poll was also conducted for future reference in drawing district boundaries - boundaries drawn by the state government to separate individual districts from one another.

"We want to re-draw political boundaries because it is not the individual vote that matters but the vote of the community," Ichinose said.

"The results of the survey may help the efforts of drawing districts in such a way that will make our voice stronger," Ichinose said.

A Los Angeles Times survey found that 8 percent of the Asian community voted in the November elections, a dramatic increase from 1996, when four percent showed up to vote. It is expected that this number will go up to 15 percent by the year 2000.

"If a candidate wants to win, it will be a necessity to learn which issues the Asian American community is most interested in," Feng said.

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