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What were the indicators of voter turnout and presidential vote choice among Asian Americans in 2020? We argue that 2020 was a unique year in which race was salient for Asian Americans due to the rise of anti-Asian attitudes attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunity to elect a vice presidential candidate of Asian descent. Because of t...
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... Indeed, challenging racial discrimination has been a core political frame leading to collective action among communities of color since the advent of the civil rights movement (McAdam 1982;Espiritu 1992), and early empirical studies argued that experiences of racial marginalization explain the higher-than-expected voter turnout rates for African Americans (Verba and Nie 1972). However, more recent studies do not find a consistent connection between perceptions of racial discrimination and voting for other racial minority groups, particularly Asian Americans (Masuoka et al. 2018;Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2022), although studies have found there to be a link between personal experiences of discrimination and nonvoting participation (Wong, Lien, and Conway 2005). There has been more consistent evidence that perceptions of racial marginalization are associated with political attitude formation, in particular preference toward the Democratic Party (Dawson 1994;Chong and Kim 2006;Kuo, Malholtra, and Mo 2016;Chan, Kim, and Leung 2022). ...
Are individual perceptions about racial discrimination relatively stable or are they influenced by external cues? Does belief stability on racial discrimination items offer some explanation for the inconsistent findings on the relationship between perceptions about discrimination and political behavior for racial minorities identified in the past literature? This study highlights the case of Asian Americans and the rise of anti-Asian hate during the COVID pandemic as an opportunity to understand how Asian Americans report discrimination against their group in response to surrounding events. Using an original three-wave study of Asian American respondents collected over 2020, we find that perceptions of discrimination were relatively stable over 2020. At the same time, we find that a respondent’s preexisting attitudes about racial discrimination held prior to the pandemic informed their assessment of discrimination during the pandemic. We also find that a respondent’s preexisting discrimination beliefs moderate the relationship between their assessment about discrimination during the pandemic and 2020 presidential candidate choice. This study offers new interventions into existing assumptions about the link between discrimination and political behavior.
... In a pilot survey conducted in South Korea, over 70 per cent of respondents indicated that racial hate crimes in the USA influence their perceptions of the country or are personally relevant to them. Previous studies on Asian Americans indicate that many adopt a 'pan-Asian identity' or share some understanding of 'linked fate' (Lien, Margaret Conway and Wong 2003;Chan, Nguy and Masuoka 2022;Wu 2022). As such, in this article, we treat Asians as a single group notwithstanding the diversity within the Asian population. ...
Racial hate crimes against Asian Americans in the USA have recently risen. While many examined the domestic consequences of hate crimes, little is known about their impact on foreign public perception of the country. This study fills this gap by investigating how hate crimes in the USA influence attitudes toward the USA. Conducting a survey experiment in nine Asian countries, we found that exposure to information about hate crime incidents in the USA resulted in a significant increase in unfavourable views of the USA (−10.1pp), decreased confidence in the USA (−6.3pp), and increasingly negative perceptions of American democracy (−6.5pp), American ideas and customs (−11.0pp), and American people (−11.8pp). We also find that legislative actions can mitigate the negative effects of hate crime information. These findings underscore the global significance of addressing hate crimes in the USA for the country’s reputation and soft power.
... This result could be because candidates in these smaller ethnic communities are more incentivized to make "crossover" appeals to both majority and minority groups (Collet 2008;Lai et al. 2001). It might be that Asian Americans, compared to other minority groups in the U.S., tend to demonstrate stronger self-identification with their country of origin, which weakens affinity in the context of an Asian candidate with a different national background (Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2022;Leung 2022). Or it might be because Asian American candidates and voters are characterized by more heterogeneous partisan affiliations, which is expected to reduce co-ethnic affinity and mobilization (Ramakrishnan 2005). ...
... Research in political science considers the implications of these theories for the civic incorporation of immigrant groups including Asian Americans. For example, several indicators of immigrant assimilation, such as generational status, years spent in the US, naturalization, and English language ability increase the likelihood of Asian American political participation and partisan acquisition (Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2024;Cho 1999;Phan and Garcia 2009;Ramakrishnan and Espenshade 2001;Wong 2000;Wong et al. 2011). However, this work also raises questions about assumptions of linear assimilation or the accumulation of political resources over time. ...
Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the US electorate, yet they are significantly under-represented in political office. How do predominantly immigrant groups like Asian Americans close this representation gap? We build on existing theories of minority representation and immigrant assimilation by highlighting the importance of a group’s political incorporation into American society. We argue that the representation of minority immigrant groups in political office requires social integration and the acquisition of civic resources, processes that can take considerable time. Using new data on Asian American state legislators spanning half a century, we find that immigration in prior decades is associated with greater political representation, while contemporaneous population size has either no independent impact or a negative one. Other indicators of immigrant social integration, including citizenship status, language ability, education, and income, also predict the likelihood of co-racial representation in political office. Our results suggest political representation gaps of immigrant groups narrow over time, though this may be a non-linear process. Our findings also imply that the least integrated members of immigrant groups are the most likely to be affected by representational deficits.
... To further capture the Q+, the survey instrument we used in the empirical section had an additional option for sexual orientation beyond LGB. In particular, the option 'Something else' allowed respondents to describe their sexual orientation in an open answer, which led some respondents to present themselves as queer, pansexual, asexual, same-gender loving, etc. 2005;Sanchez 2006;Ocampo, Garcia-Rios, and Gutierrez 2021;Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2024), we show that linked fate is associated with greater electoral participation among LGBTQ+ individuals. ...
... Researchers have also demonstrated that this link between group centrality and political behaviour can be relevant for Asian Americans. 'Group-based resources' via group consciousness or linked fate can mobilize certain forms of political participation among Asian Americans (Wong, Lien, and Conway 2005;Wong et al. 2011), even though the relationship between group-based considerations and political behaviour is contingent upon specific political contexts (Junn and Masuoka 2008;Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2024). Additionally, a recent paper by Jones-Kerwin and Peterson (2023) assesses group consciousness and linked fate among American Indians and finds that such perceptions are related to higher rates of voter turnout. ...
... For example, among Latinxs, Sanchez (2006) found mostly null relationships between group consciousness and turnout, and Ocampo, Garcia-Rios, and Gutierrez (2021) showed no influence of group identity on turnout in general elections. While Chong and Rogers (2005) found only a modest effect on voting for Black Americans, research on group-based heuristics for Asian American political behaviour is mixed and dependent on the specific political context (Wong, Lien, and Conway 2005;Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2024). Our result showing that linked fate increases electoral participation among LGBTQ+ individuals, however, aligns with work on Muslim Americans by Ocampo, Dana, and Barreto (2018), which finds that a stronger connectedness to a religious community is positively associated with voter turnout. ...
LGBTQ+ individuals often display consistent political behaviour despite being internally diverse. We theorize about the importance of group-based heuristics to understand this cohesiveness by proposing the concept of LGBTQ+ linked fate. First, we argue that LGBTQ+ linked fate is stronger among privileged individuals within the LGBTQ+ community (white, cisgender, gays/lesbians) and among those whose life experiences have made their LGBTQ+ identity salient. Then, expanding on social identity theory, we posit that individuals with greater LGBTQ+ linked fate are more likely to hold group-based political attitudes and voice these preferences through electoral participation. We provide support for these claims using a novel oversample of ∼2,000 LGBTQ+ Americans from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey. We show that stronger LGBTQ+ linked fate is associated with higher voter turnout, leaning ideologically liberal, and identifying with the Democratic Party. This study contributes to understanding group identity, solidarity, and political behaviour among marginalized communities.
... They most notably referred to the coronavirus as the "Chinese Virus." Shortly after Trump first engaged with this language, usage of the term and other anti-Asian rhetoric spiked dramatically (Chan et al., 2022a(Chan et al., , 2022bHswen et al., 2021). As noted by the organization, Stop AAPI Hate, this explicitly racialized rhetoric correlated with a dramatic increase in xenophobia and self-reported anti-Asian hate (Jeung, Yellow Horse & Cayanan, 2021). ...
Political science research has assessed how racial attitudes influence political behavior. However, less is known about the political effects of anti-Asian views, even as anti-Asian sentiment resurfaced during the pandemic. We theorize that the linkage of COVID-19 to Asian Americans by political elites activated anti-Asian animosity and shaped vote choice during the 2020 election. Using cross-sectional over time and panel data from the American National Election Studies, we find that holding more anti-Asian attitudes was not associated with Republican vote choice between 2008–2016, including when Donald Trump first ran. However, anti-Asian views became strongly related to voting for Trump in 2020. Further panel analysis demonstrates evidence that anti-Asian views measured prior in 2016 increased the likelihood of vote switching to the Republican Party in 2020. We conclude by discussing the potentially persisting political effects of anti-Asian attitudes in an environment continuously characterized by anti-Asian hate and especially during future election cycles that may feature increasingly diverse candidates of Asian heritage, running for elective office across various levels of government—including for the presidency. This study contributes to research on how and when racial attitudes influence political behavior and suggests, again, the centrality of race and ethnicity in American Politics.
... Policy threats in the 2000s and 2010s similarly mobilized Latino voters via an increase in activism and protest (White 2016;Barreto and Nuno 2009;Zepeda-Millan 2017). For Asian Americans, social exclusion remains an important precursor of both partisan identity (Kuo, Malhotra, and Mo 2017) and political participation, particularly for immigrants (Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2022). 21 Given that Trump's rhetoric was perceived as a direct threat to Latinos directly, and immigrants, more broadly, it follows that both Latinos and Asian Americans might be especially mobilized to vote against Trump (Haney-Lopez 2016). ...
It is well established that Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions during his candidacy and presidency endorsed existing group-based social hierarchies, helping to boost his support among white Americans, especially men and those without a college degree. But how did these endorsements shape support for Trump among non-white Americans? Extant theories suggest that these actions should have pushed racial and ethnic minority voter support for the GOP candidate to its lowest observed levels in contemporary political history. Yet Trump outperformed these expectations in 2016 and in 2020 among Black, Latino, and Asian American voters. We propose the same embrace of social hierarchies that motivated white support for Trump also motivated the political preferences and behaviors of a significant number of non-white Americans. Using several national large-N surveys conducted between 2011 and 2021 with large samples of Black, Latino, and Asian Americans, we explore how support for existing status hierarchies—both gender and racial—engendered support for Trump across racial and ethnic groups and discuss implications for the future of electoral politics in a rapidly diversifying United States.
... Nonetheless, we do not dismiss the role of using political representation messages to mobilize Asian Americans, given its historical and contemporary importance. After all, a record number of Asian Americans have been mobilized to vote in recent elections (Chan, Nguy, and Masuoka 2024), Asian American candidates are increasingly successful in winning elected office (Lublin and Wright 2024;Phillips 2021), and studies show that the presence of Asian American candidates increases Asian American voter turnout (Sadhwani 2022). ...
Scholars have long debated the association between the marginalized status of Asian Americans and their group consciousness. We propose that the perceived discrimination effect depends on situational cues, which we define as push and pull factors. Based on a pre-registered survey experiment on Asian Americans (n = 2,000), we find conditional perceived discrimination effects. Priming anti-Asian hate crimes "pushes" up Asian Americans’ expressed linked fate. This boost, however, is "pulled" back down when the hate crime news story is combined with exposure to an FBI report on threats from China. When the hate crime news story is combined with a message on Asian American political under-representation, we find no additional boost to Asian Americans' linked fate orientation. In additional analyses of open-ended responses, 49% of respondents believed that Asian Americans would fail to unite due to their internal diversity, lack of political agency, and lack of outside support.
... This favours the overlooking of the fact that some items measure a facet of discrimination, even though authors use them as indicators of entirely different concepts. Examples of measures that compete with discrimination are the intergroup contact measure of Hayward et al. (2018); the structural awareness measure of Tran and Curtin (2017); the belonging measure of Bilodeau et al. (2020); the perceived illegitimacy/instability measure of Grant (2008); the cognitive relative deprivation measure of Grant et al. (2015); the linked fate measure of Chan et al. (2022); the misrecognition measure of Özdemir et al. (2024); and the anti-Muslim prejudice measure of Martin (2017) and Shanaah (2022). These redundant predictors may lead to an imprecise estimation of the designated discrimination effect, and to an underestimation of its marginal contribution in explaining civic engagement, which in turn affects the conclusions about its relation to civic engagement. ...
Research has highlighted the barriers that immigrants face due to discrimination in their everyday lives. At the same time, it has been shown that immigrants get civically engaged to counteract discrimination and to work for structural change. To contribute to ongoing research on how discrimination affects attitudes, behaviour, and eventually life opportunities of immigrants, we investigate in a scoping review conceptualisations and measurements of discrimination and civic engagement used in empirical quantitative studies. We take systematic stock of publications that examine the link between discrimination—perceived and experienced—and the civic engagement of immigrants in Western societies. Using three of the leading databases for the social sciences, we systematically search for literature on discrimination and civic engagement over the past 50 years. On the basis of the retrieved publications, we assess how studies conceptualise and measure discrimination and civic engagement and investigate how scholars represent the link between discrimination and civic engagement in their statistical models. We introduce an analytical framework for discrimination that leads to more analytical clarity and may serve as a tool to investigate the link between discrimination and civic engagement more precisely. From our review, we derive recommendations as to how studies from different disciplines can learn and benefit from each other in order to gather knowledge on the mechanisms that underlie the link between discrimination and civic engagement.
... Our key outcome is a dummy variable indicating whether an individual voted in 2020 general election. The 2020 election year was unique because of the rise of anti-Asian racism stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of the co-ethnic vicepresident candidate of Asian descent (Chan et al., 2022). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a global surge of hate crimes and discrimination against Asians, particularly, Chinese (Tessler et al., 2020). ...
... The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a global surge of hate crimes and discrimination against Asians, particularly, Chinese (Tessler et al., 2020). A recent study by Chan et al. (2022) shows that stronger perceptions of racial discrimination led to a higher turnout rate and vote in support of the Democratic party among Asian immigrants. Thus, we might expect that Asian American voters in New York City exhibit a higher level of voting participation. ...
... Future research can take advantage of voter registration files dating back to early 2000 and examine the dynamic patterns between residential segregation and political engagement. Again, the 2020 election year was unique because of the rise of anti-Asian racism stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of the co-ethnic vicepresident candidate of Asian descent (Chan et al., 2022). Thus, the higher voting turnout by Asian American voters might be a short-run phenomenon instead of a long-term change. ...
