Thursday, December 10, 1998
Voting poll targets Asian community
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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