Book Project
From Political Learning to Partisan Leanings: The Social Roots of Asian American Partisanship
Exit poll data from the Roper Center
From Political Learning to Partisan Leanings explains one of the most transformative but puzzling trends in contemporary American politics, the increasingly strong support for the Democratic Party among Asian Americans. For example, the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research estimates that 55% of Asian Americans voted for Al Gore in 2000, 62% voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and 73% voted for Obama in 2012 (“How Groups Voted” 2021). Focusing on the most recent presidential elections, national polls estimate that approximately 65% of Asian Americans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 61% voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Multi-lingual exit polls conducted by advocacy organizations indicate that as many as 80% of Asian Americans voted for Democrats in 2016 and 2020 (AALDEF 2016; 2020).
The contemporary preference for Democrats among Asian Americans is surprising because they are a diverse pan-ethnic group with some conservative predispositions. For example, many Asian Americans have high incomes, immigrated from countries with a communist or authoritarian history, and identify with conservative religious denominations like Evangelical Christianity, all traits that are typically associated with voting for Republicans. Moreover, accounting for the diversity of the Asian American community does not unveil major within-group differences in partisan preferences. Why do Asian Americans support Democrats despite financial prosperity and conservative cultural beliefs? More generally, how do Asian Americans develop partisan preferences? From Political Learning to Partisan Leanings systematically explores and answers these questions.
The central argument of the book is that in the absence of strong parental partisan anchoring, Asian Americans acquire partisan views through the communication of political cues from peers in their local communities. This account, which I call the theory of “social transmission,” differs from standard explanations of political socialization in the American context, which focus on the family and argue that people develop partisan views through inter-generational transmission from their parents. These theories cannot fully explain partisan acquisition among predominantly immigrant groups like Asian Americans. Many Asian Americans report limited discussion of American politics at home during childhood, regardless of whether they grew up abroad or in the United States. Given a void of political discussion with family during childhood, Asian Americans are open to the partisan influence of peers and other social sources outside of the home.
Social transmission predicts Democratic rather than Republican preferences among many Asian Americans because they tend to settle in liberal metropolitan areas, where they are more likely to interact with Democratic than Republican peers. This experience may shape their political socialization, providing pro-Democratic and anti-Republican cues when they are still relatively unfamiliar with the political parties. This theory also accounts for variation in partisanship and vote choice. It predicts that Asian Americans who live in conservative areas develop pro-Republican views through their social interactions with peers in their local contexts. However, since most Asian Americans settle in liberal communities, Republican socialization is less common.
From Political Learning to Partisan Leanings uses a mixed methods approach to explore how Asian Americans develop partisan preferences, testing the social transmission argument alongside plausible alternative explanations. Part one presents the book’s central argument and explores whether local partisan context and political discussion with peers and family members influence Asian Americans’ partisan views. Part two further explores the process of peer political influence, focusing on the experiences of Asian American college students. I conclude in part three with a discussion of the book’s implications for various aspects of American politics. The book draws evidence from cross-sectional national surveys, in-depth interviews, a large panel survey of college students that spans institutions and decades, and an original survey experiment. These pieces of evidence complement each other and collectively offer a comprehensive exploration of the book’s central questions.
As the American electorate becomes more diverse, many standard assumptions about the dynamics of partisan acquisition are evolving. This book presents a novel explanation for immigrant political socialization and find that it contributes to partisan acquisition among Asian Americans. This research was featured in an article published in Scroll.in.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Raychaudhuri, Tanika, Tali Mendelberg, and Anne McDonough. 2023. “The Political Effects of Opioid Addiction Frames.” The Journal of Politics 85 (1): 166-177.
Abstract: Unlike media coverage of previous drug epidemics, coverage of opioids focuses on Whites and is often sympathetic. Treatment policies garner widespread support. Does sympathetic coverage of Whites cause support for public health over punishment? Does sympathetic coverage of Blacks have the same effect, or is sympathy racially selective? Prior research neglects these questions, focusing on negative messages about nonwhites. In preregistered experiments, including a national population-based survey, we vary both valence and race using fully-controlled yet realistic news stories. Sympathetic frames of White and Black users both increase White support for treatment, but the former has larger effects. This racially selective sympathy is explained by racial attitudes. Unsympathetic frames have no effects, pointing to the limits of racial antipathy. Sympathetic stories about Blacks’ stigmatized behavior can increase support for assistance over punishment, but the weaker effect highlights the importance of racially selective sympathy as a distinct concept from racial antipathy.
Chan, Stephanie, Tanika Raychaudhuri, and Ali Valenzuela. 2023. “Perceived Local Population Dynamics and Immigration Policy Views” American Politics Research
Abstract: How do perceptions of local immigrant populations influence immigration policy views? Building on findings that Americans may not accurately perceive population dynamics, we argue that objective measures do not fully capture the effects of local context on public opinion. Our research uses novel subjective experimental reminders about current levels of and recent changes in local immigrant populations to explore how these perceptions impact immigration policy views. In a survey experiment, we asked 2,400 Americans to consider current levels of or recent changes in their local immigrant population. Asking subjects to consider current levels of local immigrant populations modestly increases support for pro-immigrant policies, with particularly strong effects among non-White and Republicans. These effects may be driven by positive perceptions of immigrants and have implications for understanding the role of local community frames in shaping public opinion about immigration, particularly for groups who do not typically support permissive immigration policies.
Chan, Nathan, Chinbo Chong, and Tanika Raychaudhuri. 2021. “New Directions in the Study of Asian American Politics Part II: Political Behavior." PS: Political Science & Politics 54(2), 244-248.
Summary: This article is part of the symposium “Reflections on Asian American Politics on the 20th Anniversary of the Asian Pacific American Caucus.” It discusses three emergent projects in the study of Asian American political behavior. These are works in progress that were presented during the twentieth-anniversary celebration of the Asian Pacific American Caucus at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
Raychaudhuri, Tanika. 2020. "Socializing Democrats: Examining Asian American vote choice with evidence from a national survey." Electoral Studies 63: 102-114.
Abstract: Asian Americans are increasingly voting for Democrats in national elections. High levels of Democratic vote choice among Asian Americans are notable because many have high incomes, immigrated from countries with communist histories, or are Evangelical Christians. Why do Asian Americans support Democrats despite these conservative predispositions? I develop a novel theory of “social transmission” to explain Democratic vote choice among Asian Americans. The theory predicts that Asian Americans, who receive limited partisan socialization through the family, develop partisan preferences partly through the diffusion of political views in local contexts. This process leads to Democratic support because Asian Americans tend to settle in liberal metropolitan areas of the United States. I test this theory as an explanation for Asian American vote choice using data from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. In support of the theory, local partisan context emerges as a moderately-sized predictor of vote choice alongside some established predictors, including national origin and religion. Some measures of social integration into local communities heighten the effects of partisan context on vote choice. The results hold across various tests for self-selection and after accounting for several alternative explanations, including socioeconomic status, religion, national origin, group consciousness, and perceived discrimination.
Mendelberg, Tali, Vittorio Merola, Tanika Raychaudhuri, and Adam Thal. 2020. "When Poor Students Attend a Rich School: Do Affluent Environments Increase or Decrease Participation?" Perspectives on Politics.
Abstract: College is a key pathway to political participation, and lower-income individuals especially stand to benefit from it given their lower political participation. However, rising inequality makes college disproportionately more accessible to higher-income students, creating many predominantly-affluent campuses. Do low-income students gain a participatory boost from attending college? How does the prevalence of affluent students on campus affect this gain Predominantly-affluent campuses may create participatory norms that elevate low-income students’ participation. Alternatively, they may create affluence-centered social norms that marginalize these students, depressing their participation. Using a large panel survey (201,011 students), controls on many characteristics, and tests for selection effects, we find that predominantly-affluent campuses increase political participation to a similar extent for all income groups, thus failing to close the gap. We test psychological, academic, social, political, financial, and institutional mechanisms for the effects. The results carry implications for the self-reinforcing link between inequality and civic institutions.
Raychaudhuri, Tanika, and Andrew Proctor. 2020 "(Dis)Enfranchised Citizens: Informational Messaging and Puerto Rican Political Participation." Politics, Groups, and Identities.
Abstract: Puerto Ricans are a growing population on the U.S. mainland. They hold a distinctive position in the hierarchy of American citizenship because they are disenfranchised in national elections on the island but immediately become eligible to vote if they move to the mainland. How can Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland be mobilized to participate in politics? This paper explores whether campaign contact increases Puerto Rican political participation. Using observational data, we establish that campaign contact is associated with political participation among mainland Puerto Ricans. We also conduct a survey experiment, testing the mobilizing effects of positive and negative campaign messages that prime Puerto Ricans to think about their group’s distinctive political experiences. These messages convey the enfranchised status of Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland and their disenfranchised status on the island. While the negative treatment has limited effects, the positive treatment increases intentions to vote, to participate in non-electoral political activities, and feelings of political efficacy relative to a pure control. We observe heterogenous treatment effects across electoral contexts and levels of linked fate with other Puerto Ricans.
Raychaudhuri, Tanika. 2018. "The Social Roots of Asian American Partisan Attitudes." Politics, Groups, and Identities 6(3): 389-410.
Abstract: An important question in the study of Asian American political behavior is why members of this group, who have some Republican predispositions, are strong Democratic supporters. How do Asian Americans develop preferences for the Democratic Party? This paper considers this question through a theory-building case study of political socialization in Houston, Texas, a mixed-partisan area where many Asian Americans support Democrats. Using qualitative interviews and supplemental survey data, I examine voting behavior and partisan identification, developing a socially-based explanation for high levels of Democratic support. I argue that Asian Americans develop Democratic preferences through interactions within peer groups. These peer groups vary in composition by generational status, leading to different reasons for Democratic support across generations. I find that first-generation Asian Americans primarily interact with fellow Asian immigrants. Relative to their children’s generation, they develop positive attitudes about conservative ideology but vote for Democrats because they perceive contemporary Republicans as ideologically extreme. In contrast, transitional-generation and second-generation Asian Americans have racially diverse peer groups. Rarely discussing politics at home, they develop pro-Democratic attitudes through interactions with liberal friends in educational settings.