Who Votes Among Asian Americans?

• In Event: 4151 - International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 6: Immigration Lawmaking and Political Activism

Abstract

Little research has investigated the differences in voting behavior across Asian American intra-ethnic groups, mainly due to the lack of nationally representative data. Applying data from the National Asian American Survey’s (NAAS) 2016 Post-Election Survey, we investigate the propensity to vote in the 2016 Presidential election first among Asian Americans, and second among only naturalized Asian Americans, focusing on intra-ethnic group differences. We are using 10 focal Asian ethnic groups and examining Asian voting behavior in the 2016 Presidential election for the first time.Net of other effects, we find that among all Asian Americans, those who identify as Bangladeshi, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Pakistani and Vietnamese demonstrate higher odds of voting compared with Chinese. Among naturalized Asian Americans, those identifying as Bangladeshi, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Pakistani, and Vietnamese have higher odds of voting compared with the Chinese American ethnic group. It is striking that across both samples, all Asian Americans and naturalized Asian Americans, Chinese Americans demonstrate a lower propensity compared to most other Asian ethnic groups. Among all Asian Americans, women, being married or cohabiting, being older, having higher levels of education, and being employed all pattern higher rates of reported voting in the 2016 Presidential election. Among naturalized Asian Americans, fewer factors overall pattern voting behavior; time in the U.S. and higher levels of education are associated with a higher propensity to vote, and those with a non-Christian religion – such as Buddhist or Muslim – are more likely to report that they voted compared to Christians.

Authors

• Haifan Xiao, University of Oklahoma

• Loretta Bass, University of Oklahoma