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By Kevin Lee

Daily Bruin Contributor

Most Southern California Asian Pacific Islanders voted Democrat this past election, according to an exit poll conducted by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center Nov. 7.

Vice President Al Gore received 62.3 percent of the API vote and George W. Bush had 34.7 percent.

Democratic registration among APA voters has increased dramatically since 1996.

“In 1996, 40.2 percent were registered Republican and 35.7 percent were registered Democrat. For November 2000, API respondents who were Democrats grew to 48.4 percent, while Republicans were 29.7 percent,” said APALC Project Director Kathay Feng. “Nearly 17 percent of Asian Republicans crossed over Nov. 7 to vote Democrat, a trend first noted in the March primary.”

In addition, four Asian Americans – all Democrats – won seats in California. La Cañada-Flintridge City Council member Carol Liu, Alameda County Board of Supervisors member Wilma Chan and George Nakano of Torrance were elected to the California Assembly. San Jose Assemblyman Mike Honda was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Political issues important to Asian Pacific Islanders mirror those of Latinos and African Americans, according to Feng.

“Interestingly, all three racial groups chose the same major issues to determine their choice in candidates.” Feng said. “These included crime, health care, public schools, as well as minority rights.”

APALC representatives said the Democratic Party is more sensitive to immigrant human rights than Republicans. They point to the treatment of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee, who was targeted as being a spy for China by the U.S. government.

Asian Pacific Islanders constitute 10 percent of Southern California population, which makes them a driving force in electoral politics. Of the 5,000 people polled, 2,000 were API.

“We have the fastest growing population with the fastest rate of naturalization,” Feng said.

Covering an area 16 cities wide, the APALC conducted the poll in eight different languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Many volunteered to do the poll, including students from UCLA, USC, California State University, Los Angeles and L.A. Unified School District.

“It felt really good to help out the Garden Grove Vietnamese community,” said fourth-year Asian American studies student Tweedy Tran. “I could see the contributions to the community that came as a result of the poll.”

But fifth-year international development studies student Sothida Tan, who volunteered in San Marino, could sense some tension during the polling.

“Some found it offensive that I was trying to help them because they were already proficient (in) English,” Tan said. “There was also a election supervisor who seemed to get suspicious whenever I gathered with a large group of Chinese voters. But overall, it was an inspiring experience and I would definitely do it again.”

Aside from asking which presidential candidate the voter elected, the poll also asked for their opinion on the Wen Ho Lee incident, and who they voted for the California State Assembly.

According to the Legal Center, most Japanese Americans registered Democrat, Chinese were split, and the Vietnamese and Korean population was Republican.

Members of the APALC have been conducting exit polls in conjunction with researchers since 1988.

“There was a real need to research APA voter behavior because no such research was being done by the mainstream media, academics researchers or politicians,” Feng commented. “There was a real danger that our population would continue to be invisible or misunderstood because of the lack of research.”

Concerned with various issues that face Asian Pacific Islanders in Southern California, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center assists APA citizens on matters of racial discrimination issues, domestic violence, immigrant citizenship and worker maltreatment.

A similar poll was done in San Francisco by the David Binder Research for the Chinese American Voter Education Committee, in which Gore received an overwhelming majority of the Chinese American vote. Many of the Chinese voters were influenced by the 80-20 Initiative, an Asian American political action committee that supported Gore.