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Chinese American Vote in California Reflects Economic Divide

By Pueng Vongs and Yvonne Lee | Pacific News Service
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Chinese-language newspapers in California touted a marked increase in Chinese American voters during this year's election many of whom were driven to the polls because of concerns about the economy. But how they voted was a different matter. Younger and working class voters worried about jobs prospects tended to vote for John Kerry and more established, older Chinese voted for George W. Bush, according to newspapers.

The Sing Tao Daily, World Journal and Ming Pao Daily in the Bay Area reported long lines at polling places in Chinatowns in San Francisco and Oakland. A 25 year old Chinese American voter in Oakland said many young people like him were concerned about high unemployment and getting jobs. He said he would vote for Kerry because he was not happy that the Bush Administration had lost 900,000 jobs during the last term.

Joseph Leung, an editor with the Sing Tao Daily in San Francisco said many of his readers from working families supported Kerry because he offered economic hope. "When Bush was reelected there was a strong negative reaction from those we polled because they think four more years of Bush will be a disadvantage to low income and working families."

But businessman Mr. Sun from Oakland, said in a report that under president Bush he had become better off financially and he hinted outside the polls that he voted to reelect the president.

Similarly, Mr. Kao from South Pasadena and originally from Hong Kong said while he did not agree with many of Bush's policies, because of party loyalty and his real estate business he had been urging friends to support Bush. Chinese American voter turnout was also heavier than usual in southern California. Kao, who voted in the Chinese dominant city of Alhambra, said he had never so many voters at a polling place in the past two decades.

Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California attorney Dan Ichinose said that Asian voter turnout could have possibly doubled in the area from the previous four years according to their survey. Those voters willing to be interviewed for exit polls had increased twofold to approximately 10,000. California is home to one of the heaviest concentrations of Chinese in the country, approximately 980,000.

Proposition F, the controversial measure that would allow non-citizens the right to vote in school board elections in San Francisco failed by a 51.4 to 48.6 percent margin. The measure had sparked passionate debates from both sides. Proponents argued that tax paying non citizens should have a say in their kids’ education, while opponents felt that the move would erode the democratic process. There was a similar divide in the Chinese community and more than half of Chinese American voters in the city voted against the proposition, according to David Lee with the Chinese American Voter Education Committee. The measure was heavily supported by new immigrants with a large population of children in the San Francisco school district, but had been opposed by many more established Chinese, who felt that new immigrants should make the same sacrifices they had to obtain citizenship.

News from China was focused on the possible impact of two events that occurrred in the days leading up the election that take on greater meaning now that Bush has been reinstated.

Before the election, a rare dissenting view of the Bush administration appeared in the Chinese press. Former foreign minister Qian Xue Shen blasted Bush's war on terror and plan to build up U.S. military might in his "Star Wars" plan. "It is uncommon to see such views aired in a Chinese news agency. Most news is approved by the government," says Ling-chi Wang, professor of Asian American studies at the University of California at Berkeley. China has so far a staunch supporter of the Bush administration and the two nations have enjoyed perhaps the strongest relationship ever between the two countries.

Additionally, Secretary of State Colin Powell recently made statements that refuted Taiwan's status as an independent nation from China, which continue to have reverberations throughout the region. Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian, who has asserted Taiwan’s sovereignty, said before the election that it does not matter who will be the next leader of the United States but policy towards China and Taiwan will remain the same. Upon Bush’s reelection he was among world leaders who congratulated the second-term President. But observers are waiting to see what the administration's reaffirmed stance on China-Taiwan reunification will have on ongoing military tensions in the region.