Asian American and Pacific Islands American conservatism in the United States

Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans have given fluctuating levels of support to conservative movements and political parties in the United States, particularly the Republican Party. Many Republican Party members with these origins have obtained posts as elected representatives and political appointments as office holders.

Voting trends

From the 1940s to the 1990s most Asian Americans were anti-communist refugees who had fled mainland China, North Korea or Vietnam, and were strongly anti–Communist. Many had ties to conservative organizations. In recent years, more liberal Asian–American groups such as newer Chinese and Indian immigrants have greatly changed the Asian–American political demographics, as well as a larger proportion of younger Asian Americans, many of whom have completed college degrees.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Asian American voting behavior shifted from moderate support for the Republican Party to stronger support for the Democratic Party. In the 1992 presidential election Republican George H. W. Bush received 55% of the Asian–American vote compared to 31% for Democrat Bill Clinton. Asian Americans voted Republican and were the only racial group more conservative than whites in the 1990s, according to surveys.Jeffrey D. Schultz, ed., ''Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics'' (2000) Volume 1 pp 261-62 By the 2004 election, Democrat John Kerry won 56% of the Asian American vote, with Chinese and Indian Americans tending to support Kerry, and Vietnamese and Filipino Americans tending to support George Bush.Jim Lobe
Asian-Americans lean toward Kerry
, Asia Times. September 16, 2004. Japanese–Americans leaned towards Kerry, while Korean–Americans leaned towards Bush. Democrat Barack Obama won 62% of the Asian American vote in the 2008 presidential election, with the margin increasing during the 2012 presidential election, where Asian Americans voted to re-elect Obama by 73%. In the 2014 midterm elections, based on exit polls, 50% of Asian Americans voted Republican, while 49% voted Democrat; this swing towards voting for Republicans was a shift from the strong Democratic vote in 2012, and had not reached 50% since 1996. The 2016 National Asian American Survey, conducted before the 2016 presidential election, found that 55% of Asian American registered voters supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and only 14% supported Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Despite their growing trend of voting for Democrats in national elections, Asian Americans have tended to identify as independents and have not developed strong ties to political parties as a group. Due to the smaller size of the groups population, in comparison to the population as a whole, it has been difficult to get an adequate sampling to forecast voter outcomes for Asian Americans. In 2008, polls indicated that 35% considered themselves non-partisan, 32% Democrats, 19% independents, and 14% Republicans. The 2012 National Asian American Survey found that 51% considered themselves non–partisan, 33% Democrats, 14% Republicans, and 2% Other; Hmong, Indian, and Korean Americans strongly identified as Democrats, and Filipino and Vietnamese Americans most strongly identified as Republicans. In 2013, according to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Chinese Americans were the least likely Asian American ethnicity to have a party affiliation, with only one third belonging to a party. The 2016 National Asian American Survey found that 41% of Asian Americans identified as non-partisan, 41% as Democrats (a modest increase from 2008 and 2012), and 16% as Republicans.

Neither the Republican nor Democratic parties have financed significant efforts to the registration of Asian Americans, however much more attention has been focused on contributions from Asian Americans, having once been referred to as potential "Republican Jews". As recently as 2006, the outreach efforts of America's two major political parties have been unbalanced, with the Democratic Party devoting more resources in attracting Asian Americans. In 2016, a majority of Asian-Americans possessed the same political views on racial profiling, education, social security, and immigration reform as the Democratic Party; the efforts to attract Asian-Americans has produced a proportionally significant growth in Democratic affiliation by Asian-Americans from 2012 to 2016 by 12 percent. Political affiliation aside, Asian-Americans have trended to become more politically active as a whole, with 2008 seeing an increase of voter participation by 4% to a 49% voting rate. Such efforts by the Democratic Party in attracting Asian Americans came to an apex in 2020, with only Vietnamese Americans leaning mostly to the Republicans.

Timeline of events

; 1900s
* 1903 – Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district

; 1920s
* 1927 – Victor S. K. Houston elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district

; 1930s
* 1935 – Samuel Wilder King elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district

; 1950s
* 1953 – Samuel Wilder King elected as territorial governor of Hawaii
* 1956 – President Dwight Eisenhower appoints Peter Tali Coleman as governor of American Samoa
* 1959 – Hiram Fong elected a United States senator from Hawaii
** James Kealoha elected as lieutenant governor of Hawaii

; 1960s
* 1969 – President Richard Nixon appoints Carlos Camacho as governor of Guam

; 1970s
* 1971 – Kurt Moylan elected as lieutenant governor of Guam
* 1977 – S. I. Hayakawa elected as United States Senator from California
* 1978 – Peter Tali Coleman elected as governor of American Samoa
** Tufele Liamatua elected as lieutenant governor of American Samoa
* 1979 – Paul McDonald Calvo elected as governor of Guam
** Joseph Franklin Ada elected as lieutenant governor of Guam
; 1980s
* 1981 – President Ronald Reagan appoints Wendy Lee Gramm as Head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
* 1982 – Pedro Tenorio elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
** Pedro Agulto Tenorio elected as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
* 1983 – Joseph Franklin Ada elected as governor of Guam
* 1985 – Vicente T. Blaz elected as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Guam's at–large district
* 1987 – Pat Saiki (HI) elected to U.S. Congress
** Frank Blas elected as lieutenant governor of Guam
* 1989 – President George H. W. Bush appoints Elaine Chao as United States Deputy secretary of Transportation
** Peter Tali Coleman elected as governor of American Samoa
*** Galea'i Peni Poumele elected as lieutenant governor of American Samoa

; 1990s
* 1990 – Juan Babauta elected as resident representative of the Northern Mariana Islands
** Lorenzo I. De Leon Guerrero as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
*** Benjamin Manglona as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
* 1991 – President George H. W. Bush appoints the following:
** Elaine Chao as director of the Peace Corps
** Pat Saiki as administrator of the Small Business Administration
** Jan C. Ting as assistant commissioner at the Immigration and Naturalization Service
*** Cheryl Lau is elected as secretary of State of Nevada
* 1992 – Gaioi Tufele Galeai appointed as lieutenant governor of American Samoa
* 1993 – Jay Kim (CA) elected to U.S. Congress
* 1995 – John Ensign (NV) elected to U.S. Congress
** Matt Fong elected as California State Treasurer
* 1998 – President Bill Clinton appoints Bert Mizusawa as Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for Interagency and International Affairs
** Pedro Tenorio elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
*** Jesus Sablan elected as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands

; 2000s
* 2001 – President George W. Bush appoints the following:
** Elaine Chao as United States secretary of labor
** David S. C. Chu as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness
** Viet D. Dinh as United States assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy
** David Kuo as deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
** Susan Ralston as special assistant to the president
** Victor Cha as director for Asian Affairs
** Karan Bhatia as deputy under secretary of Commerce for Industry
** John Quoc Duong as director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
** Chiling Tong as deputy assistant secretary of the International Trade Administration
*** John Ensign elected as United States senator from Nevada
* 2002 – Duke Aiona as lieutenant governor of Hawaii
** Juan Babauta elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
*** Pedro Agulto Tenorio elected as Resident Representative of the Northern Mariana Islands
**** Diego Benavente as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
* 2003 – Felix Perez Camacho elected as governor of Guam
** Kaleo Moylan as lieutenant governor of Guam
* 2005 – Bobby Jindal (LA) elected to U.S. Congress
* 2006 – President George W. Bush appoints the following:
** Edmund C. Moy as director of the United States Mint
** Wan J. Kim as assistant United States attorney general for the Civil Rights Division
** John Yoo as deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel
** Mina Nguyen as deputy assistant secretary for Business Affairs and Public Liaison
** Angela Perez Baraquio to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation
* 2007 – Michael Cruz elected as lieutenant governor of Guam
* 2008 – Bobby Jindal elected as governor of Louisiana
** President George W. Bush appoints the following:
*** Sada Cumber as United states special envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
*** Neel Kashkari

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