When it comes to voting, Asian Americans may be the hardest group in America to turn out.
In the upcoming midterm elections, only three in 10 eligible Asian Americans will go to polls if a 16-year pattern holds, according to a Pew Research Center study. The overall midterm voter participation rate is 40 percent for the general population.
One reason for the low turnout is many are relatively new to the United States. Seventy-five of Asian American adults are immigrants.
“As a heavily immigrant group, it takes them a while to know the party system and feel comfortable enough about economical and social issues in the U.S.,” said Dr. Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside.
Another factor is that political parties focus little of their voter mobilization efforts on Asian American voters, says Dr. Janelle Wong, associate professor and director of Asian American studies at the University of Maryland.
“I think because they don’t know for sure [if they’re U.S. citizen], political candidates are hesitant to use their resources because they could reach out and that person could be ineligible,” Wong said.
“But at the same time, there’s an advantage to doing it because if they help people get involved with the political process early, then whoever reaches out to them will benefit from their loyalty.”
The Northern Virginia suburbs, outside of Washington, D.C., are home to one of the largest Asian American populations on the East Coast. Democrat Jerry Connolly has represented the 11th congressional district for the past six years.
Connolly’s spokesman, George Burke, said getting the vote of Asian Americans has been an important component of Connolly’s ability to win and keep his seat.
“Anyone who tries to reach out last minute to the Asian American community, or any ethnic community, has probably lost the ability to win over the community,” Burke said.
“Our district office is located in Annandale, also known as Koreatown to many people, so we regularly have interactions with Korean American businessmen and civic associations in Fairfax County.”
An organization called 18 Million Rising is trying to raise political awareness among young Asian and Pacific Islanders, or APIs, using social media. The group has teamed up with YouTube stars, such as the Kev Jumba and Wong Fu Productions, to create and distribute PSAs.
“By working with young leaders who have a unique and powerful online fluency, we can cut through the noise and help disseminate information about voting and civic participation,” Christina Samala, executive director of 18 Million Rising, said. “It doesn’t feel like advertising. Young APIs are all super online and we care, so let’s figure out how we’re going to take action together, make impact and participate in democracy while we’re online posting cat memes.”
Professor Wong said she expects an upward trend in voter participation for Asian Americans as they become a bigger part of the population.
“In California, Asian Americans are 11 percent of the voting population, and those are just people who have registered,” Wong said. “California is not a competitive state for a presidential election but anyone running for local office has to pay attention to Asian Americans now in certain places, so I think we’ll see more activism and outreach to the group.”