Minority Versus Minority: Partisanship and Inter-Group Competitions Among Asian Americans

• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X211053218
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

American Politics Research

2022, Vol. 50(2) 265–276

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X211053218

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Minority Versus Minority: Partisanship and

Inter-Group Competitions Among Asian

Americans

Dongshu Liu

1

and Nathan Carrington

2



Abstract

Increasingly salient in democratic politics are the divides among political parti es regarding how they mobilize supports between

ethnic majorities and minorities. Why, then, do some members of a minority group support political parties that seem an-

tithetical to the interests of minority groups? We draw on group conf‌lict theory to suggest that a partial explanation rests on

perceived competition within minority groups. We test this theory by focusing on Republican Party support among Asian

Americans in the United States. Based on two representative surveys and an original online survey experiment of Asian

Americans, we demonstrate that perceived competition among racial minority groups has a signif‌icant effect on the partisanship

of Asian American and pushes them toward the Republican Party. We also present observational evidence suggesting our

theory applies to other minority groups. Our f‌indings provide critical implications on how race affects politics in democracies

with increasingly diversif‌ied ethnic minority groups.

Keywords

partisanship, ethnic politics, minority–minority competition, Asian American, group conf‌licts

Introduction

Ms. Wen, an Asian American in Virginia, campaigned tire-

lessly for President Trump during both the 2016 and 2020

elections. Noticeably, Ms. Wen, and many others like her,

represent a non-ignorable portion of Asian Americans f‌irmly

supportive of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. The

2020 election saw an increase in Republican partisanship and

a decrease in Democratic partisanship among Asian Amer-

icans, despite Democrats’consistent endorsement of seem-

ingly pro-minority policies and their nominating an Asian

American woman to the vice presidency. The increase in

Republican support is particularly striking given the GOP’s

“China Virus”rhetoric coinciding with an increase in hate

crimes against Asian Americans and GOP immigration

policies that make it challenging for Asian Americans

(particularly from India and China) to f‌ind a pathway to

citizenship. Why, then, do a sizable portion of Asian

Americans support a party that seems antithetical to their

interests?

To those following American politics, the Democratic

Party is often regarded as the most attractive for minorities,

while the base of the Republican Party is usually believed to

be primarily white evangelical voters. This majority–minority

paradigm dominates the discussion and analysis of U.S.

politics, with an underlying assumption that minority groups

benef‌it from the Democrats while the GOP benef‌its white

Americans.

1

However, this majority–minority paradigm is

only part of the story. Much mobilizing of Asian Americans

by the GOP in the 2020 election cycle targeted other minority

groups instead of speaking in terms of the majority–minority

paradigm. For example, California Proposition 16, which

sought to remove the ban on aff‌irmative action for education

and employment, was cited by many Asian Americans in

explaining support for Trump, as they believe the proposition

privileged Latino and African Americans over Asian

Americans.

2

We argue that this minority–minority paradigm

is an undertheorized and overlooked factor in determining the

partisanship of minority groups.

Studies focusing on political relations among minority

groups in the United States are overwhelmingly dominated by

the Black–white paradigm (McClain et al., 2006,2007).

1

Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, KowloonTong,

Hong Kong

2

Department of Political Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Dongshu Liu, Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong,

Room B7502, Yueng Kin Man Academic Building, Tat Chee Avenue,

Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Email: dongshu.liu@cityu.edu.hk