More Asian American Voters Up for Grabs
'Independent' Growing as Political Affiliation
Asian Fortune, News Feature, Winyan Soo, Posted: Jul 19, 2007
Editor's note: Domestic issues lead the concerns of Asian voters in the presidential race of 2008. Their presence was keenly felt in Virginia with the election of Democratic Sen. James Webb over incumbent George Allen.
A recent survey found that a significant number of Asian Americans voted for the first time in 2006. The survey also pointed out that a growing number of Asians, particularly Chinese Americans call themselves “independent voters,” and do not affiliate themselves with any party. The most important issues to be addressed by 2008 presidential candidates include economy, jobs and health care.
These and other findings come from a multilingual exit poll of hundreds of Asian Americans in the Maryland and Virginia area. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a New York-based non-partisan group, also profiled more than 4,700 voters in 23 cities on Election Day in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington.
“Asian Americans tend to be overlooked when polling other minority groups,” said Glenn Magpantay, AALDEF’s staff attorney. “We try to add to the political discourse with our random sampling from particular jurisdictions in the local area.”
The AALDEF focused its Maryland survey in Rockville, Silver Spring and the Kensington areas, reaching a number of Chinese, Vietnamese and South Asians volunteers. Their survey, however thorough, could not include significant information from Korean American voters because of low volunteer turnout.
According to the AALDEF, 6 percent of all Asian Americans voters said that they voted for the first time in the November 2006 midterm elections. Magpantay said that a higher voter turnout could have been attributed to the “macaca effect,” where Asian Americans responded to former Virginia Senator George Allen’s comment about a South Asian in one of his audiences during a campaign speech.
Magpantay and other Asian American leaders discussed these findings at a meeting at the Montgomery County Council Office in May. The survey release came in conjunction with the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. State Delegate Susan Lee (District 16) spoke at the event to emphasize the government’s need to focus on the Asian vote.
“Asians have one of the fastest rates of growth in Maryland and in the nation,” Lee said. “We have a lot of talent and we have a lot to contribute. We also pay a great amount of taxes.”
Lee suggested that Asian Americans should help provide substantive input in government laws before bills are drafted. She also pointed out that the attendees of the AALDEF meeting were the same familiar faces she sees at every community meeting. Lee said she hopes that more community members can be encouraged to come out to these meetings to encourage civil participation.
“We need to be more proactive; voting is one of the most important tools,” Lee said. “We have to vote for candidates – Asian or non-Asian – who will be strong advocates of our community, so that we can be active members instead of spectators.”
Other panel speakers included Hoan Dang of the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, Lily Qi of the Organization of Chinese Americans, Kamala Edwards from the Indian American Leadership Council, Chung Pak of the Korean American Association and Raj Kudchadkar from the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education.
TIFF images of the exit poll slides are available to the public for download online:
“Vote for Maryland Senate Race” – http://www.aaldef.org/images/MDASianAm2006senate.TIF
“Priorities for 2008 Elections” – http://www.aaldef.org/images/MDAsianAM2006iissuesfor2008.TIF
“Party Enrollment by Ethnicity” – http://www.aaldef.org/images/MDAsianAm2006partyenroll.TIF
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