Posted on 12/01/2012 6:50:41 AM PST by blam
Why Asian Americans Voted So Overwhelmingly For Obama
Menzie Chinn, Econbrowser
Dec. 1, 2012, 7:18 AM
Menzie Chinn is a professor at Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs
Noahpinion asks: “[W]hy did Asian-Americans break so strongly for Obama? I provide my (slightly different) answer.
As Noahpinion observes, given Asian American’s higher than average income, the Romney-esque argument that the group is one of “takers” not “makers” cannot be correct (of course, there is little empirical content to this particular thesis, anyway). 2012 was not an isolated event, by the way.
I am not a political scientist, and so am not particularly well-qualified to provide a proper quantitative analysis. But I can at least relay some thoughts based upon my own experiences on why some Chinese-Americans of a certain background might not feel comfortable with the Republican party. First, consider the composition of the party leadership, as represented by the new House Committee Chairmen:
Source: DailyKos.
Of course, it’s the policies that matter more. And here, I think the key factor of importance to Chinese-Americans is pragmatism (the generation of my parents -- who came from China -- saw enough rigid, dogmatic ideology run amok, thank you very much), and a belief in progress by way of science and technology. In this vein, Richard Posner speculates that Asian-Americans lean toward the Democratic party, despite the low-tax rate stance of the Republican party, because:
... being well educated as a group, Asian Americans may be disturbed by the hostility to science, particularly evolutionary biology, which Republican supporters and politicians have exhibited of late.
Charles Murray tries to explain Asian-American voting as pure mis-apprehension, to wit:
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
you are very right the Asians I know are big on not creating waves. If the media is telling them one thing they will go with it based on conformity even if it is not their own beliefs
Thanks. You can see my post #79 that is similar to what your mother said. I respect that most NE Asians that get here are smart but too many are into reaming out the welfare system. India/Pakistan immigrants are a different deal not saying better or worse as far as exploiting the social welfare systems in America
The Dems are no better than us. Are lazy idiots and crude Soviet style propagandists parroting themes and buzzwords repeatedly to rope in the low information voters. You give the Republicans control of the mass media and we would be wining election after election. This won't be happening soon but the Republican negatives you mention are just not there. They are cooked up the Dems working with their media machine for brainwashing the masses
Glenn Beck understands this and is trying to create a new media. Watch what he does. Last 30 years the Dems took over education and the media. This is why we have the problems of today
I know who God is. I don’t know who John Derbyshire is, but thanks anyway. People who reject God have a liberal, immoral mindset. Those who follow God have the opposite mindset. Any false research to the contrary is a waste of my time to read.
I can only think they suffer the same thing as other groups.
#1 Many on the dole or family on the dole.
#2 Many working for government or have family working for government.
#3 Obama Phones....
Maybe they are very liberal minded and don’t forget if you go to YouTube it is the Asians you see capturing animals and doing things like skinning them alive, so there can be a differnt mind set.
Also, many Asians are used to communism and Democrats are there for that also.
Yes many (but not all) do. Grew up in Asia, dated Asians. Tell me a thing or two. Problem is, Mexicans outdo the Asians on all levels. It ALL has to do with the value system with which one was trained. That is the whole story. You can scream and holler all you want to that it isn't so, but it is.
A lot of us would like to define politics in terms of whether you are for or against some secular liberal elite. For a lot of people, though, especially in the cities, political positions are defined by whether you are for or against Evanglicals, fundamentalists, or moralistic social conservatives. Living mostly in metropolitan areas and not being Evangelicals or fundamentalists, most Asians voted Democrat.
Also, groups that think of themselves as being in someway "outsiders" vote for the party identified with "outsiders," and right now that's the Democrats. Was this really a surprise?
Most idiots that vote for democrats don't understand how democrats are growing government and so taking away our freedom , opportunity to make money etc.
Hey liberal dummies socialism doesn't work and if you vote for democrats you vote for socialism(growing government) and to become slaves of the government you idiots. Why do you liberals trust government and government bureaucrats and politicians you morons?
2. Identity politics. The media has brainwashed many non-whites to think that they must vote for democrats. This is why we in the GOP have to run a non-white or woman like Palin, Haley etc. That is to break the liberal media lie and brainwashing. this is why the media smeared Palin , Cain etc so savagely
3. Most foreigners don't share our American values of liberty and limited government which is why democrats have imported 100 million non-white foreigners , mostly poor from 3rd world with their 1965 immigration act: before that most immigrants to U.S.A were white and from Europe.
Thanks AJ, you’re right about the anti-science trolls on FR — and there’s some truth to an anti-scientific bent in real life by many self-described conservatives and self-described Republicans.
It is, however, an indisputable fact that the Demwits are not in the least interested in the scientific method, only in using grant money to bring more people into their fold (by fostering dependency) under very easy terms — support their political agenda. That isn’t science, and isn’t scientific, and people who support the Demagogic Party because they’re doing this aren’t scientists, however they self-describe.
I’ve described it as “the political seduction of the sciences”, obviously a borrowing from Judge Bork’s “the political seduction of the law”. Where I come down on this controversy is, it isn’t immoral, illegal, or unconstitutional to have such grants, it is however where the battle is — how is the money spent? Where? On what?
Anyway, thanks again for the props, I greatly appreciate it!
Please refer to my tagline...
Simply backing out the Japanese American vote in Hawaii would drop all the other asian Americans down to the Republican level.
I’m Asian and I did not vote for obummer.
LOL. tis the season to be jarry fa ra ra ra ra ra.. ra ra ra ra..
Exactly! Thanks for the sense of humor...
I think the answer is found in two areas, which are only tangentially about ethnicity.
The first is education. Asian-Americans have college degrees in greater numbers than any other generalized ethnic group, and college-educated people are more likely to be indoctrinated in the ideology of the Democratic Party.
The second is the general East Asian tendency towards Confucian rather than Aristotelian thinking. Confucian ethics promote group rather than individual effort, along with the idea of the benevolent ruler who regulates the lives of his subjects for their own benefit—such as in Singapore, though it is also true at varying levels in Japan, South Korea, and the “Han” areas in China.
There’s also a third possibility, which, if it is indeed part of the picture, would be more true of recent immigrants. Just as the immigrant Jews from eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine were socialists because of their old-country influences, immigrant Asians bring with them the semi-to-full-socialist presumptions of their native lands.
“....if anyone tells you that Asian’s voted for Obama because of anything other than handouts, don’t believe a word of it. The local Asian media is just as bad as the MSM.”
You’ve pretty well nailed it there. Also, being educated means they’ve been through and indoctrinated by the liberal higher education scam.
Good point. I bet you cannot find a 2012 exit poll anywhere that says that evolution is the number one issue, or even in the top ten.
Most Dem don’t like Republican social conservatives for two reasons —
(1) Because social cons don’t think the government should honor and recognize anal sex
(2) Social cons oppose sleeping around and having lots of abortions.
It’s that simple.
I think there has been a big change in the Asian community over the years. I know a lot of conservative ones, but they are the Japanese, Chinese and Korean who assimilated into the culture.
Now in the south end of Seattle we have huge populations of Asian immigrants of one stripe or another who barely speak English. All of the signs are in some Asian language. If one gets lost down there no one can help you because they do not speak the language.
Huge big apartment dwellings. They are less assimilated than the blacks. Even the worst of the ghetto blacks can speak a semblance of English and the ones from other countries often speak better English than we do in America.
But the new Asian culture seems to have no desire to become American. Probably the dims can go into these strange communities and load folks onto buses and take them to vote. They probably have sample ballots on the buses to show them what to punch since they cannot read them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.