Are Asian Americans Politically Apathetic? If so. why?

Name one problem that Asians have in this country.

Name one thing the government can do for Asians.

Can't think of any....? Well, there you go.....

 

I'm Asian. I'm 25. I've never voted. I don't plan on voting this time. I don't plan on voting in the future. Call me indifferent.

 

I'm asian 27, and this will be the first time ever for me to vote... It goes to Obama....

 

i'm asian...24, plan on voting obama. wanted to vote last time but forgot to register.

 

I would say one major problem is that Asians don't have enough representation in govt. to protect their interest.

Let's look at the LA riots in the 90's for how big of a problem this can be.

When the riots started after the Rodney King verdict, Police were initially dispatched to Korea town right next to where the riots started.

However folks in Beverly Hills who are very well represented in govt. called and were worried about their property and protection. Of course Beverly Hills is much farther away from where the riots were.

The Police were ordered back and rather than setting up at Korea town, they set up to protect Beverly Hills.

The Koreans lost business after business not to mention bodily injuries, and property damage.

Something that could be done by govt. to help that problem would be to have representation and to demand the protection due to their community.

 

For nearly a decade I was very much pro-Republican. Thanks to GWB I have been leaning towards Democrats on most issues in the last eight years. I can tell you right now this media-hyped, cult-like Obama facade is starting to turn me off.

 

don't go off topic and drag this into a mudslinging contest please.

 

Huh? What I said in my previous post has everything to do with what glynch wanted to know in his opening post: "Do Asians generally support Democrats or Republicans? Liberals? Conservatives? I have to admit that my general opinion is that many Asians in American are apathetic toward politics or perhaps so middle of the road that they rarely stand out in the clash of issues."

Now take a hike.

 

I call you someone who shouldn't complain about the government you get.



Impeach Bush.

 

I think there's a cultural element to Asian apathy to politics.

- Asian culture teaches you not to b**** and moan, but put your head down and just work harder.
- American politics rewards those who b**** and moan

 

I'm.....might be Asian.....old enough to vote.....plan to vote for one of the Republicans....probably McCain........

What? Is that wrong? Sorry but I'm not gonna bandwagon along with something Hollywood or Sally Fields (?) support.

 

Sally Fields(?)??



Impeach Bush.

 

Asian Americans are apathetic. Reasons why:

1. They don't have a candidate that they can connect to. There's not a candidate in the past 20 years that they can say "You know, I like what this man stands for. His beliefs are my beliefs" etc. Of course, it's hard for any candidate to relate to Asian-Americans when virtually all the candidates are Caucasians. Yes, it sometimes comes down to race.

2. The "why get my hands messy" belief. Most of the Asian-Americans that came over in the past 20-30 years worked hard and earned their money through privately owned businesses. Their worries entails on how to run their business effectively, have enough money to take care of their family, enough to send their kids to college, etc. As long as they're financially secure, why bother with politics? There's more pressing issues at hand at home because, at the end of the day, whoever becomes President doesn't really directly effect them and their businesses.

3. This mentality kind of carries over to the younger generation of Asian-Americans as well. What kind of jobs/occupations do they all go into? All I know is not many go into journalism or anything that can lead into politics aside from Law--and even there, it's not a big group when compared to the ones that goes into the Medical/Engineering/Computer Science fields.

4. Uninformed. Just like most Americans, they don't get enough information about the candidates and thus don't know a Romney from a Huckabee. And from my personal experience, there aren't a lot of news media outlets that can give them this information in their own respective language (which would do wonders if they could get info this way).

Yes, I'm Asian-American and yes I voted in the last election. Of course supporting a Democratic party in Texas IS like throwing your vote away, but it's my right/duty to vote so I vote for the candidate that I think would do a better job. I encourage all my family members to vote and all of them do...once they're informed.

As for my Asian-American friends that don't care to vote, they have their own reasons but I haven't heard a good one yet.

 

perhaps it's because they've had a longer history dealing with government than us.

 

Part of it is also the immigrant culture. I'd bet that Asians born in the US vote at a much higher rate than those who immigrated here - and a big part of would simply be a deeper connection to the country. Immigrants who came here for a better life (and presumably found that) are probably generally more content than those who've known nothing else but the US. I suspect this applies to other immigrant races as well, though with the Latino community, there are more issues directly addressing their lives (border issues, immigration issues, NAFTA/trade, etc) that might drive them to vote more.

 

"Asian Americans" is a very broad stroke. I think there are differences among Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean....in a political activism sense. It's like putting all Latinos in a box...there aren't just Mexican Americans in this country.

If the Vietnamese culture that I grew up with in Htown became very politically active and informed, I'd say they would vote Libertarian...just my opinion. You know, we're into the less government, lower taxes, leave us alone and let us do our thing philosophy.

 

Good point. We're such a diverse country and the Asian American community is just as diverse.



Impeach Bush.

 

My father was Republican. Liked the self-made pro-business ethic. Also liked their foreign policy wrt Taiwan. Maybe mainland Chinese immigrants would vote partywise regarding that issue...

As for me, I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative. When the two collides, I try to research the best solution and go from there. I didn't like Clinton. Didn't trust Gore and stayed home. Hated Bush enough to vote for the other stiff.

Most Asians I know don't really care because of the ugliness of politics and because no one appeals strongly to them. Except Obama and Ron Paul.

Essentially, we're a divided vote that both parties take for granted...which is why I encourage the lunacy of a group like 80-20 even if I don't agree with their platform or actions.

In the next 10 years and beyond, the Asian vote will become more vocal, if only because the antagonism with China becomes bolder and more pronounced.

 

I disagree on the vietnamese thing but it I haven't seen any demographic studies to back it up so its only base on my impressions. I've seen older Vietnamese much like Cubans tend to be Republican because the memories of communism and the war. In my contact with younger vietnamese, I think the political affiliation has to do more with economic status than cultural beliefs. The ones that make a lot of money tend to be republican and the ones that make less tend to lean democrat. These are just my observations and they could be wrong.