Why don't Asians vote Republican?

[Ogre Mage]

From what I've read, Asians used to vote Republican during the 1970s and 80s.  The gap narrowed dramatically under Bill Clinton during the 1990s.  From 2000 on, a clear majority of Asians have been in the Democratic camp.

[memphis]

Same reason Jews don't vote GOP: A more communal ethos and a distaste for Christian nationalism.

Interestingly the two most anti-Semitic groups in America, Muslims and Blacks are pretty strong Democratic.

Politics makes strange bedfellows. The Christian Right and big business are exactly enamored with one another either.

[FloridaRepublican]

Same reason Jews don't vote GOP: A more communal ethos and a distaste for Christian nationalism.

Interestingly the two most anti-Semitic groups in America, Muslims and Blacks are pretty strong Democratic.

Politics makes strange bedfellows. The Christian Right and big business are exactly enamored with one another either.

Funny.  I was thinking the same thing about the hippies and big government who are enamored with each other.

[pbrower2a]

And none of the Civil Rights Act stuff has any bearing on how Asians vote today.

Very true, that got a bit OT into minorities in general.

Southern Evangelicalism of the Republican Party combined with economic interests that revolve around major urban and suburban areas (where the Asian population is concentrated) along with the overall attitude many in the GOP have towards public education (as well as trying to shovel Creationism into a Science classroom) = Asians not voting Republican.

That is a big part of the answer: ethnic groups that have little use for anti-intellectualism (Asians and Hispanics) have no use for the demagogy associated with creationism or any other pseudoscience. They know that they are getting no special breaks from white competitors, and they recognize education as most reliable means of getting ahead in America. If Democrats were pushing New Age claptrap and Republicans were defending genuine science, then these groups would vote more heavily Republican.

Add to this, Southern Evangelicalism is alien to all Asian cultures. It has nothing in common with Hinduism or Buddhism, nothing but monotheism with Islam, and little else with Catholicism. 

[pbrower2a]

From what I've read, Asians used to vote Republican during the 1970s and 80s.  The gap narrowed dramatically under Bill Clinton during the 1990s.  From 2000 on, a clear majority of Asians have been in the Democratic camp.

It was largely anti-Communism. Most ethnic Chinese and Filipinos and almost all ethnic Koreans and Vietnamese voted with the most strident anti-Communist party of the time because they had fled Communism or dreaded Communism in their homelands. Japanese and South Asians whose ancestral homelands had comparatively little experience with Communism didn't so vote. (The Japanese voted much like Jews). After about 1980 the PRC did an effective PR job in ethnic-Chinese communities as the PRC dropped any semblance of an effort to spread its "revolution" abroad and became a big trading partner. Vietnam has done much the same, and the Commie threat in the Philippines petered out after the People Power revolution.

The only expansionist manifestation of Communism in Asia is now North Korea, and Koreans seem to be more Republican than other Asian groups.

[Хahar 🤔]

From what I've read, Asians used to vote Republican during the 1970s and 80s.  The gap narrowed dramatically under Bill Clinton during the 1990s.  From 2000 on, a clear majority of Asians have been in the Democratic camp.

It was largely anti-Communism. Most ethnic Chinese and Filipinos and almost all ethnic Koreans and Vietnamese voted with the most strident anti-Communist party of the time because they had fled Communism or dreaded Communism in their homelands. Japanese and South Asians whose ancestral homelands had comparatively little experience with Communism didn't so vote. (The Japanese voted much like Jews). After about 1980 the PRC did an effective PR job in ethnic-Chinese communities as the PRC dropped any semblance of an effort to spread its "revolution" abroad and became a big trading partner. Vietnam has done much the same, and the Commie threat in the Philippines petered out after the People Power revolution.

The only expansionist manifestation of Communism in Asia is now North Korea, and Koreans seem to be more Republican than other Asian groups.

Korean Republicans are generally evangelicals, not necessarily rabid anti-Communists.

[politicalchick20]

How many African American Republicans are serving in Congress? None.

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

How many Asian American Republicans are serving in Congress? One (Joseph Cao - and he'll be gone in 2010).

How many Native American Republicans are serving in Congress? None. 

How many women are Republicans are in Congress? 21 (out of 91) in both the House (17/74) and Senate (4/17).

How many Jewish Republicans in Congress are there? One (Eric Cantor).

How many LGBT Republicans in Congress are there? None.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the Republicans the party of the minorities but more so the party of old angry white men. Republicans don't necessarily hate minorities (aside from homosexuals); they just, well, how do I put this diplomatically, don't tolerate differences?

Actually, there is one other Asian American serving in Congress besides Joseph Cao: Steve Austria of Ohio's 7th District.  He's Filipino-American.
John Ensign also claims to be one eighth Filipino, but I have no idea if this is true or not.
I do agree with your basic point, however. Just wanted to clarify.

[Smash255]

How many African American Republicans are serving in Congress? None.

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

How many Asian American Republicans are serving in Congress? One (Joseph Cao - and he'll be gone in 2010).

How many Native American Republicans are serving in Congress? None. 

How many women are Republicans are in Congress? 21 (out of 91) in both the House (17/74) and Senate (4/17).

How many Jewish Republicans in Congress are there? One (Eric Cantor).

How many LGBT Republicans in Congress are there? None.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the Republicans the party of the minorities but more so the party of old angry white men. Republicans don't necessarily hate minorities (aside from homosexuals); they just, well, how do I put this diplomatically, don't tolerate differences?

Actually, there is one other Asian American serving in Congress besides Joseph Cao: Steve Austria of Ohio's 7th District.  He's Filipino-American.
John Ensign also claims to be one eighth Filipino, but I have no idea if this is true or not.
I do agree with your basic point, however. Just wanted to clarify.

welcome to the board

[politicalchick20]

How many African American Republicans are serving in Congress? None.

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

How many Asian American Republicans are serving in Congress? One (Joseph Cao - and he'll be gone in 2010).

How many Native American Republicans are serving in Congress? None. 

How many women are Republicans are in Congress? 21 (out of 91) in both the House (17/74) and Senate (4/17).

How many Jewish Republicans in Congress are there? One (Eric Cantor).

How many LGBT Republicans in Congress are there? None.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the Republicans the party of the minorities but more so the party of old angry white men. Republicans don't necessarily hate minorities (aside from homosexuals); they just, well, how do I put this diplomatically, don't tolerate differences?

Actually, there is one other Asian American serving in Congress besides Joseph Cao: Steve Austria of Ohio's 7th District.  He's Filipino-American.
John Ensign also claims to be one eighth Filipino, but I have no idea if this is true or not.
I do agree with your basic point, however. Just wanted to clarify.

welcome to the board

Thank you! This is actually only the second day I've ever been to this board, but I've already discovred how awesome it is. 

[HAnnA MArin County]

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Because they're smart enough to think what a republican presidency will do to this country.

This.

Not to be stereotypical, but Asian Americans are extremely smart and higher educated voters do tend to vote more Democratic. That and they are much more pro-science than pro-let's only teach what the Bible says about physics and biology and evolution and etc.

[Torie]

Maybe it was mentioned above, but the GOP's stand on immigration had something to do with it. I think that hurt with Koreans and Chinese who sometimes have relatives they are trying to get in, or are here illegally.

[Badger]

How many African American Republicans are serving in Congress? None.

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

How many Asian American Republicans are serving in Congress? One (Joseph Cao - and he'll be gone in 2010).

How many Native American Republicans are serving in Congress? None. 

How many women are Republicans are in Congress? 21 (out of 91) in both the House (17/74) and Senate (4/17).

How many Jewish Republicans in Congress are there? One (Eric Cantor).

How many LGBT Republicans in Congress are there? None.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the Republicans the party of the minorities but more so the party of old angry white men. Republicans don't necessarily hate minorities (aside from homosexuals); they just, well, how do I put this diplomatically, don't tolerate differences?

Isn't David Dreier gay?

As for the Republicans' poor showing with minorities, I would argue that it has more to do with their resistance to social programs, class warfare, and their lack of pandering to minority groups. 

"Class warfare"? This, from conservatives who scream from every radio mike and rooftop that raising the top tax bracket back to 39.5% for the wealthiest 1-2% of Americans = "OMGZ OBAMA IZ A SOCIALISTS!!!!"? Sure....

More to the point of your post:  In other words, its the minorties' fault they vote Democratic because they're suckers for "class warfare" and "pandering".
Go with this argument. Please. I'm sure the GOP will be pulling down a majority of Latino votes and over 30% of African-Americans by decades end with this cleverness.

"I don't understand what minority voters don't like about our party? Other than our policies, messaging, and nearly 50 year record of solidly opposing civil rights and ballot access, why are minorties so reluctant to vote Republican?"

[Verily]

From what I've read, Asians used to vote Republican during the 1970s and 80s.  The gap narrowed dramatically under Bill Clinton during the 1990s.  From 2000 on, a clear majority of Asians have been in the Democratic camp.

It was largely anti-Communism. Most ethnic Chinese and Filipinos and almost all ethnic Koreans and Vietnamese voted with the most strident anti-Communist party of the time because they had fled Communism or dreaded Communism in their homelands. Japanese and South Asians whose ancestral homelands had comparatively little experience with Communism didn't so vote. (The Japanese voted much like Jews). After about 1980 the PRC did an effective PR job in ethnic-Chinese communities as the PRC dropped any semblance of an effort to spread its "revolution" abroad and became a big trading partner. Vietnam has done much the same, and the Commie threat in the Philippines petered out after the People Power revolution.

The only expansionist manifestation of Communism in Asia is now North Korea, and Koreans seem to be more Republican than other Asian groups.

Koreans are definitely solidly Democratic (indeed, despite being the only large Asian group with an evangelical Christian "tradition"). The Vietnamese are still Republicans, though. I think Filipinos might be Republican, too; certainly the Philippines was one of the only countries worldwide where Bush was still viewed positively by the end of his Presidency. There is of course also a Christian tradition in the Philippines, although they're mostly Catholic (although that Iglesia ni Cristo thing resembles some of the weirder branches of evangelical Protestantism). There's also a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment in most of the Philippines.

[ottermax]

From what I've read, Asians used to vote Republican during the 1970s and 80s.  The gap narrowed dramatically under Bill Clinton during the 1990s.  From 2000 on, a clear majority of Asians have been in the Democratic camp.

It was largely anti-Communism. Most ethnic Chinese and Filipinos and almost all ethnic Koreans and Vietnamese voted with the most strident anti-Communist party of the time because they had fled Communism or dreaded Communism in their homelands. Japanese and South Asians whose ancestral homelands had comparatively little experience with Communism didn't so vote. (The Japanese voted much like Jews). After about 1980 the PRC did an effective PR job in ethnic-Chinese communities as the PRC dropped any semblance of an effort to spread its "revolution" abroad and became a big trading partner. Vietnam has done much the same, and the Commie threat in the Philippines petered out after the People Power revolution.

The only expansionist manifestation of Communism in Asia is now North Korea, and Koreans seem to be more Republican than other Asian groups.

Koreans are definitely solidly Democratic (indeed, despite being the only large Asian group with an evangelical Christian "tradition"). The Vietnamese are still Republicans, though. I think Filipinos might be Republican, too; certainly the Philippines was one of the only countries worldwide where Bush was still viewed positively by the end of his Presidency. There is of course also a Christian tradition in the Philippines, although they're mostly Catholic (although that Iglesia ni Cristo thing resembles some of the weirder branches of evangelical Protestantism). There's also a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment in most of the Philippines.

All the evangelical Christian Koreans I know are economically liberal, but definitely social conservatives. Some are solid Democrats but it can be easy to use social issues to sway their votes to the Republicans.

[War on Want]

An odd random Fillipino fact is that males vote for the Democrats more often than women do.

[Governor PiT]

Here is the statistics for Asian Voters in California.

Korean (1%): Democratic 37%, Republican 27%, DTS 33%
Japanese (1%): Democratic 47%, Republican 30%, DTS 21%
Chinese (3%): Democratic 31%, Republican 20%, DTS 45%
Indian (1%): Democratic 50%, Republican 16%, DTS 31%
Vietnamese (1%): Democratic 30%, Republican 34%, DTS 31%
Filipino (2%): Democratic 44%, Republican 27%, DTS 26%

Looks like only Vietnamese lean Republican, Koreans and Chinese have no partisan loyalty with large numbers decline to state, and Japanese, Filipino's, and Indians leaning democrat.

[Sbane]

How many African American Republicans are serving in Congress? None.

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

How many Asian American Republicans are serving in Congress? One (Joseph Cao - and he'll be gone in 2010).

How many Native American Republicans are serving in Congress? None. 

How many women are Republicans are in Congress? 21 (out of 91) in both the House (17/74) and Senate (4/17).

How many Jewish Republicans in Congress are there? One (Eric Cantor).

How many LGBT Republicans in Congress are there? None.

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the Republicans the party of the minorities but more so the party of old angry white men. Republicans don't necessarily hate minorities (aside from homosexuals); they just, well, how do I put this diplomatically, don't tolerate differences?

Minorities only like the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party panders to them and they believe in affirmative action instead of hiring a person based on their skill.  The Republicans are not very popular with minorities because the Republicans don't pander to their every whim.

Asians are hurt the most by affirmative action, idiot. Try again.

Err...what?

They're no fans of it, that much is obvious. But they would stand to be the people profitting most from a general application, much as in India not-too-badly-oppressed groups who somehow got on the Schedules are the ones who profit most. Which is entirely unsurprising if you think about it. They have a leg up on those below them already, so they're also best placed to take advantage of offered advantages. (Actually, I seem to recall a study pointing out how far more White women than Blacks of either race have been hired thanks to Affirmative Action policies. Mind you, that would be a study from the early 90s.)

Sorry for responding two years later...

But from what I have seen Asians usually aren't benefited by affirmative action because they usually only help "disadvantaged" groups. Hispanics and obviously Blacks fall under this category, but Asians usually don't (I would think at least a large part of the Vietnamese community might qualify). I don't know about the AA policies of different companies and what not, but at least the definition of the state of California seems to exclude Asians. After the UC system became color-blind in 1996, it was Asians who benefited the most, not whites. Asians are to this day highly overrepresented in the UC system, even at the undergraduate level (with most of the students being residents of California).

[freepcrusher]

despite recent showings, Asians are not a monolithic group. It really depends what country they are from. Some Asians vote like blacks while others vote like Cubans. I know that there is a large vietnamese population in Garden Grove, which votes republican due to staunch anti-communism.

There are probably a lot of upper middle class/high income asians who don't vote republican for cultural reasons. I'd assume they were offended by comments about the "real america" and have a strong distaste for the trucker hat, flag waving, tobacco spitting, darryl worley listening types in the republican party.

[Sbane]

I doubt there's any Asian group that votes like Blacks.

[phk]

How many Hispanic/Latino Republicans are serving in Congress? Four, I think, and they're Cuban Americans and some have said that they don't really qualify as real Latinos. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, and Mel Martinez).

Who?

They maintain the Spanish language at higher rates than Mexicans and have a lower rate of defection to Protestantism/Mormonism.

In terms of Mexicans, as a Mexican-American becomes middle class and beyond they don't hang around other Mexicans as a rule. Sort of th opposite of Cubans who have stronger ties to the Cuban community as they move up the ladder.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

It is because of the deception that the democrats pulled off in the 1960's. They oppose civil rights while most republicans (even the Taftites and Goldwater factions) were in favor. Dr. King himself was a republican until the 1960 election when he endorsed JFK over Nixon (something I would have also done due to JFK supporting tax cuts)

[Sbane]

No it's not because of the 60s calvinistlibertas. Most Asians weren't even in America back then.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Then how do you explain the Asians who have had been here almost a century before the 60's?

[Sbane]

Didn't I say "most"?

[Dgov]

For the Same Reason Boston suburbs vote Democrat despite being middle-and-upper class WASPs/Catholics.  They're more Liberal than their demographic trends suggest.

In fact, if you Look at Indian-Americans, they should be strongly Republican.  They're primarily middle-class or small buisness owners, they're deeply religious, and are fairly well integrated into American society.  But they don't . . . because they're Liberal.