Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Take a gander:
Until the 1970s, the majority of persons naturalizing were born in European countries. The regional origin of new citizens shifted from Europe to Asia due to increased legal immigration from Asian countries, the arrival of Indochinese refugees in the 1970s, and the historically higher naturalization rate of Asian immigrants. Consequently, Asia has been the leading region of origin of new citizens in most years since 1976.
Thirty-six percent of persons naturalizing in 2011 were born in Asia, followed by 31 percent from North America, and 12 percent from Europe (see Table 1). Mexico was the leading country of birth of persons naturalizing in 2011 (14 percent). The next leading countries of origin of new citizens in 2011 were India (6.6 percent), the Philippines (6.1 percent), the People’s Republic of China (4.7 percent), and Colombia (3.3 percent).
So why don't politicians care about the Asian voting bloc?
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Sep '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Maybe there isn't an "Asian voting bloc". If there were, politicians would be trying to buy it. Maybe Asians are just individuals, disproportionaly pursuing excellence and not asking politicians to take care of them.
Nov '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Nobody cares about Asians! They are blatantly discriminated against in college admissions, and nobody cares. They are dramatically underrepresented in culture (there are hardly any mainstream TV shows or movies in which normal American Asians are portrayed), and nobody cares. And they are attacked and assaulted on a daily basis by the more popular minorities, and nobody cares.
The reason why? Asian immigrants and their children are decent, hard-working, devoted Americans, who want nothing but a fair shot at success and don't spend all their time whining about what victims they are and how unfair life is. And 'helping' them doesn't make white liberals feel better about themselves, so they dodged that bullet, too.
In short, politicians don't care about the 'Asian voting bloc' because there isn't one, there's just Americans.
(Sorry to be so intense about this, but almost all my best friends my whole life have been Asian, so this is a sore spot for me...)
Nov '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Maggie Somavilla beat me to it!
May '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
One can dream. In reality, Asian cultures are heavily community-focused.
I'm not suggesting that there should be an Asian voting bloc. I'm just surprised there isn't one. Do immigrants from Asia tend to assimilate better than immigrants from Mexico and Central America?
Edited on June 19, 2012 at 7:33pmMar '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Aaron Miller:
So why don't politicians care about the Asian voting bloc?
I imagine it's because most Asian-Americans already lean left (as mentioned in your link) and tend to live in states which are already very blue. It's probably not worth the effort for Republicans.
Sep '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Note that we refer to Hispanics--not to Iberians. And the Hispanics we refer to are immigrants from Latin America--immigrants from Spain generally avoid any identification as "Latinos." (So, for that matter, do people from the upper classes in Mexico.)
There is a common language among Hispanics--that is not the case, by any means, among the various Asian groups. There is a common character set among Chinese and Japanese (although the original Chinese characters are a subset of the Japanese Kanji characters). There is no common language--and there is a thousand-year history (and a less than hundred-year-old history) of brutal war among the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. If a Korean-American friend invites you home for dinner, do not say, "Oh, I love Chinese food!"
Now let's talk about the Indian subcontinent. Hindu vs. Muslim; castes within the Hindus; more than a hundred official languages in India. Oh, and then there are the Sikhs. An Indian from Mumbai would be hard-pressed to converse with an Indian from Manipur--whom you would likely assume to be Chinese.
There's no homogeneity among Asians--hence no such thing as an Asian voting bloc.
Mar '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Also, as everyone here has correctly pointed out, many Asian immigrant families tend to be very successful and don't need anything from the government.
And even government intrusion isn't a big deal for many. Here in the Bay Area, there are plenty of small businesses, especially restaurants, run by Asian immigrants. This being California, they must have to jump through regulatory hoops every day just to keep their doors open, but I get the sense that it's still much easier here than in their home countries.
And on the flip side, there are many young 2nd generation Asian-Americans here who are in the top tax bracket, but I imagine even a 28% marginal rate doesn't seem too bad when you are still netting 10x what your parents earned.
May '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Mendel
Aaron Miller:
So why don't politicians care about the Asian voting bloc?
I imagine it's because most Asian-Americans already lean left (as mentioned in your link) and tend to live in states which are already very blue. ....
How is that different from hispanics?
So why do they tend to vote Democrat?
I think John might be right about the comparative lack of cultural homogeneity.
But why did Filipinos and Vietnamese tend to vote for Bush while Japanese immigrants tended to vote for Kerry? Is it because the former tend to immigrate to the conservative South while the latter immigrate to the liberal West Coast? Or is it due to residual effects of their birth cultures?
Mar '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Aaron Miller
Mendel
Aaron Miller:
So why don't politicians care about the Asian voting bloc?
I imagine it's because most Asian-Americans already lean left (as mentioned in your link) and tend to live in states which are already very blue. ....
How is that different from hispanics?
Because there are large blocks of Hispanics, but not as many Asians, in swing states such as FL and CO?
Aaron Miller
So why do they tend to vote Democrat?
I think John might be right about the comparative lack of cultural homogeneity.
But why did Filipinos and Vietnamese tend to vote for Bush while Japanese immigrants tended to vote for Kerry?
I also fully agree that there is no monolithic Asian immigrant group.
Most of the Asian-Americans I know are quite apolitical, and I can't imagine them using their ethnicity as a factor when deciding whom to vote for. My sense is that their political leanings, like so much of their social interaction, is influenced by their incredible ability to assimilate to the culture around them.
But then again I only know a small, and probably unrepresentative, sliver.
Nov '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Aaron Miller: I'm not suggesting that there should be an Asian voting bloc. I'm just surprised there isn't one. Do immigrants from Asia tend to assimilate better than immigrants from Mexico and Central America? · 2 hours ago
Edited 2 hours ago
It's not that they tend to assimilate better however most who do integrate do so in their own groups. Hispanics speak one language: Spanish (you'll notice no one courts the Brazilian-American vote). To the uninitiated there's not a whole lot of difference between a Mexican or an El Salvadorian or a Honduran.
The oh-so-empathetic panderer will claim to know the difference but he doesn't really, he assumes that each country's expatriates care about the same thing: goodies, open borders and unrestricted illegal immigration mostly. They get away with this because no one calls them on it.
The Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and others have some commonalities but they all speak different languages, they have different national histories (the Thai, for example, were never colonized by the West, most people sterotype New Zealanders as English descendents not Maori) It's harder to pander so most don't bother.
May '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
If racism is the issue, the blatant and extended bias against the Chinese is almost unmatched in our history.
May '12
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
If you're going that route, then why not bring up that it was a Democrat(FDR) who sent 120,000+ Americans into concentration camps merely for having had the misfortune of being of the same ethnicity as the people who attacked the US on December 7th, 1941.
John Murdoch and Austin Murray best answered this issue; that Asians are so widely different in backgrounds, beliefs, religion, language, etc that trying to form a political bloc isn't going to happen. If the Republicans had any sense, they'd approach them as individuals, argue for liberty, merit, and push the case that what the Democrats have planned for them is not in their best interests.
Nov '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Hey, now that this got main-feeded, quick question should Rob Long happen across this thread. Mr. Long, based on the promo for your new sitcom, it seems like there's an Asian character played with a thick accent by an actress who has no accent at all. I was wondering, was the actress fine with doing that, or did she have some qualms? Is it different if an Asian-American without an accent plays an Asian with an accent, compared to, say, Mickey Rooney doing it? Will other minorities be played for laughs in a similar way, or just Asians?
And if I got the completely wrong impression from the short promo clip, which is more than likely, I apologize!
(incidentally, I am fine with making fun of everyone, as long as it really is everyone, and not just those groups that are easy targets because they don't complain [like muslims do over cartoons]. if you only make fun of the groups who don't organize, all you're doing is rewarding the humorless ones who do)
Edited on June 20, 2012 at 12:10amNov '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Adrian: Nobody cares about Asians! They are blatantly discriminated against in college admissions, and nobody cares. They are dramatically underrepresented in culture (there are hardly any mainstream TV shows or movies in which normal American Asians are portrayed), and nobody cares. And they are attacked and assaulted on a daily basis by the more popular minorities, and nobody cares.
. . .
(Sorry to be so intense about this, but almost all my best friends my whole life have been Asian, so this is a sore spot for me...) · 5 hours ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I couldn't agree more, as someone whose friends have been predominantly Asian and now as an adoptive mother of an Asian child.
White liberals actually feel fine about anti-Asian discrimination. White friends of mine have been appalled when, as alumni interviewers for their colleges, they encountered the racist slurs and open hostility expressed in committee meetings.
And it's not as though Asians aren't vulnerable to old-fashioned racism as well. My daughter was once called "[expletive] chink" when she was walking down the street with my husband. She was not quite two years old.
Apr '12
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Multiple thoughts on this:
Asians in the U.S. are not a voting bloc...an influential group of potential donors but the voting numbers are simply not there, particularly with the ethnic diversity even among Indians as noted by John Murdoch. However, they obviously make for excellent Southern governors!
If there is any ethnic group that though should be against illegal immigration and the spoils system know as affirmative action it should be Asians. I would hazard to guess that every legal immigrant from Asia has at least one educated coiusin who is struggling to arrive on here. And they positively impact our economy. Unfortunately, the high achiever Asians are indoctrinated into the leftism of the elite. Despite evidence of actual, true discrimination in higher education, many Asians focus more on potential racism from the ignorant.
Best line in this article is the fact that the stern Indian father thought American kids have it too easy.
Edited on June 20, 2012 at 12:39amAug '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
By "we" must be meant people in the U.S. References to "Hispanics" or la Raza are rare (but not unknown) south of the border. "Hispanic" identity is very much if not entirely a U.S. invention.
Though I have noticed, on certain Panamanian, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan news websites, a disproportionate interest in the affairs of Spain. I suppose these countries have a lot of expatriates there. Still, it seems a loser proposition. Spain? What's heroic about Spain? Ah, but to make ethnic politics pay, you don't look for heroes, you look for sugar daddies. Hard to believe Spain could be that, but well, the euro still technically counts as hard currency!
Aug '11
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Like the "stern Indian father" who just beheaded his daughter for bringing dishonor to her family: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indian-man-unrepentant-beheading-daughter-16601577
May '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
John H.
"Hispanic" identity is very much if not entirely a U.S. invention.
Right. It's politically expedient.
So why would it not be similarly expedient for liberal Chinese, Japanese and other Asian-looking voters to band together? Do they have so little in common with each other that a political alliance would be pointless?
Hispanics are individuals, too. Not all of them join "Latino" organizations. Does cultural homogeneity alone explain the abundance of hispanic groups?
Is geography a factor? Perhaps Mexico's proximity and regular travel back-and-forth across its border provides constant cultural reinforcement to immigrants here which stymies assimilation.
What about Jews? Are American Jews also relatively homogenous? Why do Democrats cater to them?
Apr '12
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
DownSpout
Like the "stern Indian father" who just beheaded his daughter for bringing dishonor to her family: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indian-man-unrepentant-beheading-daughter-16601577 · 5 minutes ago
One can be stern without beheading...just more math less soccer!
Aug '10
Re: Asian Immigration > Hispanic Immigration
Many Asian-Americans would lean to the right, as they have often emigrated from countries with harse communist regimes. Sadly, in Los Angeles the APIA Democratic machine is strong and only getting stronger. Want an idea how powerful they are? Look at Judy Chu's last election where her APIA machine defeated a powerful Hispanic machine to win her election to the House.The APIA machine is dishonest and has many "non-profit" and "non-partisan" organizations who proudly volunteer to "translate" voter information. How's your Mandarin? How's your Cantonese?