A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF ASIAN AMERICAN POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

Abstract

This dissertation examines how Asian Americans form political identities under the simultaneous pressures of socioeconomic integration and racial marginalization. Despite their growing visibility in competitive electoral contexts, Asian Americans remain understudied in political science, where prevailing models often treat racial identity and immigrant status as distinct or peripheral factors. This study proposes a theoretical framework that captures the dual pressures of partial incorporation and exclusion, offering a more context-sensitive interpretation of party identification and presidential vote choice. Drawing on data from the Cooperative Election Study (CES) across multiple election cycles, the analysis investigates how education interacts with racial resentment, ideological orientations, economic perceptions, and presidential approval in shaping party identification and presidential vote choice. Using a multivariate model with interaction terms, the study explores how these relationships shift across electoral contexts, particularly during periods of heightened racial salience, such as the 2020 election. The findings reveal that, in terms of party identification, three attitudinal factors—racial resentment, symbolic ideology, and operational policy preferences—consistently correlate with Republican party identification. Other variables show little meaningful connection in most electoral contexts. Regarding presidential vote choice, racial resentment, party identification, and operational preferences remain the most stable predictors, while self-reported ideology and other characteristics demonstrate limited or inconsistent effects. Across election cycles, there is little evidence that education systematically alters these relationships. However, in 2020, individuals with higher levels of education reported weaker associations between conservative orientations and Republican identification. Even in that context, no corresponding effect is observed in presidential vote choice. These results diverge from patterns observed in other racial groups and remain consistent across Asian American subgroups, regardless of national origin or nativity. Overall, this research advances both theoretical and empirical understandings of racialized political behavior among Asian Americans by foregrounding the dual processes of integration and exclusion. It contributes to the broader literature on immigrant political development, public opinion, and racial politics by presenting a framework adaptable to other communities experiencing conditional inclusion and contested belonging within American democracy.