Examining Voter Turnout Among Asian American College Students

Studying voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election among Asian American college students (AACSs) is timely given that the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has inflamed racism against Asian Americans. In the midst of this global pandemic, US President Trump incited racist attacks and led many to scapegoa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of college student development 2021, Vol.62 (3), p.373-378
Main Authors: Ro, Hyun Kyoung, Fernandez, Frank, Kim, Sanga
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian American Students
Citizen Participation
College Environment
College Students
Diversity
Extracurricular Activities
Service Learning
Student Characteristics
Student Experience
Voting
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Studying voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election among Asian American college students (AACSs) is timely given that the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has inflamed racism against Asian Americans. In the midst of this global pandemic, US President Trump incited racist attacks and led many to scapegoat Asian Americans for spreading the virus (Tavernise & Oppel, 2020). The negative national climate exacerbates racism against Asian Americans, which is particularly problematic, because AACSs tend to have lower voter registration and turnout rates in presidential elections than other racial or ethnic groups (Thomas et al., 2017). Yet, only a few studies have addressed AACSs' political engagement (Grim et al., 2019; Park et al., 2008). This study sought to offer research findings on voting participation among AACSs and to help student affairs promote AACS voter turnout in 2020 and future national elections. This study analyzed data from six institutions where students completed the civic engagement module in the 2017 Student Experience in the Research University survey. The study shows that taking a service-learning course was positively related to voter turnout among AACSs.
ISSN:0897-5264
1543-3382
1543-3382
DOI:10.1353/csd.2021.0041