Southern California APIs Moving Left
March 6, 2000
Republican and Pete Wilson-era policies cited
By Janet Dang An exit poll conducted Super Tuesday by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) of Southern California showed more APIs in that region identified themselves as Democrats than Republicans, reversing a trend from four years ago.
The APALC surveyed some 3,000 voters of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in areas with large API populations in Southern California, including Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, the South Bay and Orange County. Of those voters, 1,200 were APIs.
In 1996, exit polls showed that 35.7 percent of API voters were Democratic and 42.2 percent Republican. That figure shifted in the November 1998 election, when 42.3 percent of APIs surveyed were Democratic and 34.4 percent Republican. And last week’s APALC poll showed a complete reversal of the 1996 numbers: 45.1 Democratic versus 34.9 percent Republican.
In California, remnants of policies enacted under former Governor Pete Wilson’s administration have struck a chord among the API communities, said Dan Ichinose research coordinator for APALC’s voting rights and anti-discrimination unit.
According to previous polls the center has conducted, Proposition 187, which sought to deny services to illegal immigrants, and Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action, were viewed unfavorably across the API community.
Nationally, the manner in which Republicans have criticized Democrats for the 1996 campaign finance scandal and the Wen Ho Lee case may have also contributed to Southern California APIs’ retreat from the Republican Party.
“There are definite reasons for API voters to be unhappy with the Republican Party and its policies. This is translating into Democratic Party affiliation,” said Ichinose.
In fact, of the API voters polled, 43 percent voted for Gore, while Bush garnered 30 percent of the vote and McCain came in with 19 percent. Bill Bradley received 7 percent. Of the API Democrats polled, 64 percent voted for Gore, while of the Republicans, 55.5 percent voted for Bush.
Meanwhile, the number of APIs with no party affiliation has actually decreased, reversing another trend. APALC’s poll, conducted in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese, revealed that 16.3 percent of those polled said they have no party affiliation, compared with 27.7 percent in 1998 and 21.4 percent in 1996.
“The longer a voter has resided in the United States, the more likely they are to take a party affiliation,” Ichinose said. “This is particularly important to parties because APIs, with respect to first time voters, are responsive to attention from a particular party — and to attacks,” he added, referring to McCain’s “gook” comment.
Vietnamese American voters generally are Republican voters who are mostly likely to support a front-runner like Bush. Still, support for McCain most likely diminished, Ichinose said, because those comments “did have a negative impact” in that community.
Filipino Americans and Korean Americans, on the other hand, tended to support Gore by 50 percent and 54 percent respectively, surprising election watchers, who view Korean Americans as conservative.
According to Ichinose, the results were derived from locations in Los Angeles’ Koreatown where, many voters “aren’t as conservative as they are portrayed to be,” he said.
Of the Chinese Americans polled, 46 percent favored Gore. Japanese Americans, however, favored the vice president by only 27 percent — the lowest percentage count among API voters.
In Senate District 21, Republican Paul Zee secured the primary nomination, receiving a whopping 77.5 percent of API voters — and of the Republican APIs polled, 100 percent supported him. Among Democrats and those in the “other” category, 50 percent of both groups crossed over and voted for him. Zee also received 81.3 percent of the Chinese American vote.
In the 44th Assembly District, poll results indicate La Cañada Mayor Carol Liu received 77.7 percent of API votes and 64.5 percent of open primary votes. She received 86.4 percent of the Chinese American vote.
Ichinose noted that API voters in the past have come out to support their own despite ideological differences, citing 1998 Republican senatorial candidate Matt Fong’s winning 58.3 percent of the API vote. “API party affiliation does not mean as much in their choice of candidate as do other things, like issues … or in this case, ethnicity,” he said.
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