RPV Analysis and Asian-American Voting in the San Gabriel Valley: CA-27

RPV Analysis and Asian-American Voting

in the San Gabriel Valley: CA-27

By Dr. Christian R. Grose and Dr. Natalie Masuoka

Executive Summary

• CA-27 is an Asian-American-ability-to-elect district where Asian-American voters cohesively support Asian-American candidates of choice. Asian-American voters cohesively support Asian candidates of choice in CA-27. Support for Asian-American candidates of choice exists across most, though not all, Asian national origin groups in the San Gabriel Valley and in CA-27. On balance, Asian-American voters – and specific national origin groups such as Chinese-Americans – are cohesive in support for Asian-American candidates in CA-27. On the other hand, there are two national origin groups – Indian-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans – who show some evidence of lack of cohesion with other Asian-American voters in support of Asian candidates of choice in CA-27.

• There is evidence of racial polarization between Asian-American voters and non-Hispanic white voters in CA-27 and in the San Gabriel Valley. We looked at congressional elections and statewide elections featuring Asian-American candidates in CA-27. In these elections within CA-27, Asian-American voters often vote in contrast to non-Hispanic white voters. Slight majorities of non-Hispanic white voters often vote against the Asian-American candidate of choice supported by Asian-American voters.
  

CA-27 is in the San Gabriel Valley, which is east of the city of Los Angeles in southern California. This region is mostly in the eastern part of Los Angeles County. The San Gabriel Valley is home to significant Asian-American communities and Latino communities. CA-27 is the second largest percent-Asian district in California and the largest in southern California (39% Asian-American population, 2020 census; 35% Asian-American citizen-voting age population).

RPV Analysis of CA-27 U.S. House Elections

The CA-27 district primarily includes voters in the San Gabriel Valley, but geographically includes a very rural section of Los Angeles County, including the Angeles National Forest in the northern part of the district. Most of CA-27’s population lies west and east of neighboring district CA-32. The district is currently represented by an Asian-American Democrat.

To assess if racially polarized voting is present in CA-27, we examine general election contests in 2018 and 2020 for U.S. House. In 2020, the Democrat was the incumbent up for reelection against a Republican challenger Republican. The final vote for the district in 2020 was in favor of the incumbent, 69.8% to 30.2%. In 2018, the same incumbent up for reelection against a Democratic challenger. Again, the sitting congresswoman won reelection, 79.2%, to 20.8%.

Cohesive Asian-American Support for the Asian-American Candidate of Choice in CA-27

Tables 1 and 2 below show the results of racially polarized voting analyses in CA-27, and reveal that the incumbent was the candidate of choice of Asian-American voters in both 2018 and 2020. The analyses also show that the majority of all major racial and ethnic groups in the district favored the Asian- American candidate of choice in 2018, but not in 2020.

There is cohesive and large support from Asian-American voters and Latino voters for the congresswoman. Table 1 shows that in 2018, she received 84% of the Asian-American vote and 84% of the Latino vote. The non-Hispanic white vote was more split, with just 52% of non-Hispanic white voters voting for the incumbent in 2018. Since all three groups favored her, this implies there is not racial polarization. On the other hand, there is a very wide gap between support for the congresswoman by Asian-American voters and Latino voters; and almost half of non-Hispanic white voters preferred the challenger. This suggests some level of polarization does seem to exist between white voters and Asian-American voters in CA-27.

Table 2 shows RPV analyses for CA-27 in the 2020 U.S. House election. In this election, a slight majority of non-Hispanic white voters supported the white challenger over the Asian candidate of choice. Latino voters voted in coalition with Asian-American voters wo support the incumbent at very high levels (81%). Table 2 suggests there is racial polarization in CA-27, which means that there is a need to draw an Asian-American-ability-to-elect district in the San Gabriel Valley in the 2022 redistricting process. Because Asian-American voters are cohesive and voting in opposition sometimes to non-Hispanic white voters, there is a need for an Asian-American ability-to-elect district

RPV Analyses for Asian-American Candidates of Choice in CA-27 in Statewide Elections

In addition to the U.S. House elections, we also estimated RPV in two statewide elections that featured Asian-American candidates of choice: State Treasurer and State Controller in 2018. We estimate support for these two candidates by looking only at voters within CA-27 for additional evidence. These RPV analyses are in Table 3 and Table 4.

Asian-American voters in CA-27 are cohesive in their support for Asian-American candidates of choice for Ma (73%) and Yee (77%). Latino voters also cohesively supported the Asian-American candidates of choice at very high levels. Non-Hispanic white voters, as similarly observed in recent U.S. House elections, split their vote between the Asian candidates of choice and the opposing white candidates. A slight majority of non-Hispanic white voters voted in opposition to the Asian-American candidates of choice. Given this RPV, there is a need for an Asian-ability-to-elect district in the area of CA-27.

加州施打疫苗 85%亞太裔滿意 (World Journal)

協助針對新冠疫情相關問題進行調查的「亞美政聯」（CAUSE），與其他不同族裔組織，2日聯合參與Holocaust Museum LA舉辦的線上講座，探討疫情時代下族裔之間的關係。根據最新的4月民調發現，仍有78%亞太裔擔心家人感染新冠病毒，有63%亞太裔打了至少一劑疫苗，均是少數族裔之冠。亞太裔也是少數族裔當中，最肯定加州整體對疫苗施打的努力，滿意度高達85%。

洛杉磯城市聯盟（Los Angeles Urban League) 執行長Michael Lawson，解析民眾不打疫苗的因素，指出許多人對於這個社會的醫療體系充滿不信任，透過熟悉及相信的民間團體宣傳，他們才因為「相信」進而主動要求打疫苗。他說，為了解決類似問題，該聯盟盡力指導醫療體系團隊，如何「正確」地將有用消息傳遞出去，以博取大眾的信任，吸引更多人打疫苗。

對於針對亞裔的仇恨犯罪事件，民調數據顯示，70％的加州民眾認識到亞裔遭受歧視，79％的亞裔認為自己受到了歧視。亞美政聯執行長Nancy Yap指出，全國範圍內舉報的反亞裔仇恨犯罪案件數量激增，有統計說已高達6000件。隨著越來越多人認識到亞裔遭受歧視，亞裔也越來越明白站出來發聲的重要性。

仇恨犯罪事件不光是針對亞裔，其他族裔也遭受到類似事件，她認為少數族裔團體應該互相協助及學習，共同抵制任何的仇恨暴力事件。

西裔組織HOPE執行長Helen Torres根據數據指出，西裔較害怕被成為仇恨犯罪的對象；而女性較男性容易成為施暴對象。多數人害怕孩子成為仇恨對象的目標，同時更擔心仇恨犯罪氾濫，影響孩子的未來世界。

亞裔不再忍！疾呼跨族裔立法對抗仇恨犯罪 (World Journal)

記者王全秀子／洛杉磯報導 2021-04-10 02:16

「在過去的14個月中，美國遭遇史無前例的公共衛生危機，而最近幾周亞太裔社區面臨一系列仇恨犯罪暴力事件，也許疫情即將結束，但整個亞太裔社區受到歧視的情況可能變得更糟糕，暴力程度也有所增加」，亞美政聯（CAUSE）9日聯合民選官員和社團領袖舉行在線會議，強烈譴責種族主義的仇恨犯罪，以及探討立法者採取的措施。

亞美政聯主席胡澤群（Charlie Woo）表示，亞太裔社區面臨的現況已經變得無法忍受。他希望民眾聚集在一起抗議，以引起對這個問題的關注並尋求幫助。

胡澤群強調，「這不是亞裔美國人的問題，而是美國人民共同的問題」。美國必須團結起來應對這場危機，亞美政聯目前聯合非裔社區、猶太人社區等多個跨族裔和跨文化背景社區領袖教育民眾，消除造成種族主義者的無知。他們一直在加州進行民意測驗，重點針對有色人種，以便更好地理解對疫情的反應、或對種族的感受以及對彼此的態度。此外亞美政聯日前與猶太人司法中心發表聯合聲明，與社區民眾站在一起，共同面對挑戰。

聯邦參議員帕迪拉（Alex Padilla）強烈譴責針對任何人的仇恨犯罪，尤其是針對亞太裔社區，種族主義和仇恨犯罪最近呈上升趨勢，在任何地方，任何時間，任何地方都不應該出現。

帕迪拉表示，在全國各地的許多社區中，太多的亞太裔成員受到騷擾或人身攻擊而沒有引起重視，他希望大家勇敢站出來發聲。同時他也和參議員同仁聲援亞太裔社區立法，近日已簽署的一項具體法案，將明確表示在美國的任何地方都不會容忍仇恨和種族主義，他們正在推進一項法案，譴責一切形式的反亞裔的歧視。

聯邦眾議員劉雲平（Ted Lieu）分享自己來自移民家庭的故事，他提到，因為新冠疫情，導致亞裔再次成為被攻擊的對象。根據報告，去年全美的16個主要城市中，針對亞裔美國人的仇恨犯罪率飆升約150％，他認為，提高民眾認識和釋放資源也很重要，針對那些製造仇恨犯罪者提起訴訟更很重要。目前他正在與國會議員同仁合作，更改標準，在聯邦一級以及地方轄區為檢察官調查人員投入更多資源，仇恨犯罪聯邦法院控訴。值得慶幸的是，拜登總統已經直接簽署一項行政命令，投入更多資源用於打擊針對亞裔的仇恨犯罪，以及包括司法部在內的聯邦機構。

亞太政策與計劃顧問委員會主任Manjusha Kulkarni表示，根據統計超過70%的歧視事件是語言歧視，以及人身攻擊，公民權益受損。他們收到的報告中有68％來自女性，其他目標群體包括弱勢群體，如老年人和青少年佔10％ 。她認為改變現狀需對受害者法律援助，以及社區教育和改變政策。

Giants Honor Asian American Grandmother Attacked in San Francisco (NBC Bay Area)

By Jean Elle

The Giants home opener Friday was more than a baseball game for a San Francisco family recovering from a violent attack.

The Giants organization invited assault victim Xiao Zhen Xie, also known as “Grandma Xie” to enjoy the game in a suite.

San Francisco City Supervisor Matt Haney visited with her at the game. He is applauding the Giants for not only hosting Grandma Xie, but also for standing with her and the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

He said it is telling fans everyone is welcome at Oracle Park.

“They made it clear at the start of the game that this is an inclusive space they don't tolerate racism or hatred of any kind,” he said.

As professional sports teams speak up against rising hate crimes Against the AAPI community, California lawmakers are raising awareness and toughening hate crime laws.

During a virtual town hall Friday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla says he expects to call on the Senate to vote against hate later this month.

“We're advancing a resolution that condemns all forms of anti-Asian discrimination and calls on federal officials to address the rise in COVID-19 hate crimes,” he said.

Congressman Ted Lieu said he is introducing legislation to make it easier to file federal hate crime charges.

“It changes the standard to say you can charge a hate crime at the federal level if race or another protected class was a contributing factor in defendants commission of the crime,” Padilla said. From congress to sporting events, It’s a united front against hate.