Asian Americans and the Election

For most Asian Americans, staying in tune with election issues is just not on the top of their priority list. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans have seriously addressed Asian American issues, even though Asians make up about 5 percent of the population – which is pretty insignificant in the large scale. But at USC, Asians are the largest minority group – approximately 25 percent of the student population.

The numbers of Asian Americans registered to vote and actually voting at the polls in Southern California have been increasing in previous general elections. But there needs to be greater mobilization across all Asian American ethnicities and more resources to help voters feel comfortable, because the Asian American vote could tip the election one way or another.

The National Asian American Survey released Oct. 6 concluded that 41 percent of Asian Americans favor electing Obama, while 24 percent are in favor of McCain. What happened to the other third? They remain undecided. National polls have shown that undecided people comprise about 8 percent of voters.

“With such a high proportion of undecided voters, Asian Americans are a critical source of potential votes for either candidate in the final weeks of the campaign,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, an associate professor of political science at UC Riverside, in a press release.

A large number of Asian Americans are nonpartisan: 35 percent identify themselves as unaffiliated with either the Democrat or Republicans. And if you include the 19 percent that are independents, the total number of potential swing voters is more than half of all Asian Americans.

Asian Americans have historically been labeled the “model minority” for their diligent work ethics and ability to be successful in the middle class or even upper middle class socioeconomic group. But many college students, from my own perspective, have refrained from participating in politics. Many of my Asian friends either do not care about the election or are uninformed about the candidates' political views. A high level of apathy and lack of concern hangs around in the Asian American culture.

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center is making huge efforts to provide ballots with Asian languages on them. Project API Vote in 2006 sought to mobilize more underrepresented Asian Americans.

The drive, for the most part, is there. But do Asian Americans really care? The NAA survey found that the most pressing issue is not the war in Iraq or national security, but the state of the economy. There is a pressing need for continued education on the election among Asian Americans. The push by many Asian American organizations to be proactive is stronger than ever, and I hope that Asian Americans will pay close attention to this election and make an educated choice on Nov. 4.

CNN Video on Asian Americans and the 2008 Election: