Partisan segregation shapes Asian American voters

Ting-Syuan Lin and Yongjun Zhang studied voting patterns among Asian Americans in California and New York to understand how where people live affects who they vote for.

The researchers analysed data from 2.55 million Asian American voters, recognising that this group includes several distinct ethnic subgroups with differing political views and economic backgrounds. They used voter data to measure how separated voters are from people of similar race, income, and political party, defining neighbourhoods by geographic proximity to each voter.

Their analysis revealed that white voters experienced the highest racial isolation, while Black voters showed the most isolation by party affiliation. Asian American voters generally lived in more politically mixed neighbourhoods than white or Black voters. However, the study found significant differences within the Asian American community. Chinese and Vietnamese voters experienced the highest racial isolation, while Japanese and Filipino voters lived near more voters of other races.

Indian voters had the highest income isolation, while Japanese voters had lower income isolation than other groups. The researchers also found that New York voters generally experienced more isolation, particularly political isolation, than voters in California, though patterns varied between the two states for specific Asian American subgroups. These findings suggest that factors beyond race and income influence where people live and, potentially, how they vote.