Chinese Immigrants Political Attitudes Ethnic-Centered Political Engagement

Abstract

This paper examines the political views and ideology of the 1996 cohort. We constructed a survey from an early 2005 voter registration roll, and details of the survey are available from the author upon request. In the survey we asked Chinese Americans for information about their political ideology and partisan affiliation, and also asked for opinions on a range of public policy issues, many of them specifically related to the Chinese-American community or to public policies dealing with ethnicity and immigration (for example, ethnic preferences in education). We also asked about the nature and sources of political engagement: why the respondents chose to vote and where and from whom they got their political information. We found that Chinese Americans in the Bay Area, like Chinese Americans nationwide, are not ideologically monolithic. They are neither liberal nor conservative, and while many are members of political parties, few report strong feelings of partisan allegiance. The respondents are united, however, in their views on a range of ethnic issues—although, interestingly, they are divided over affirmative action. Overall, we find that the respondents share many of the same concerns as American at large, but that they are more aware of policy issues that deal specifically with Chinese Americans.