VOA慢速英语2015 亚裔选民抛弃共和党人

Asian-American Voters Abandon Republicans 亚裔选民抛弃共和党人

Anh “Joseph” Cao felt uneasy when his Republican colleagues made comments about immigrants.

Cao was a Republican congressman¹ from 2009 to 2011 in a Democratic district of Louisiana. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1975 from Vietnam when he was a child. He says he sometimes heard comments from his Republican colleagues that he considered anti-immigrant and insensitive. 

“It’s been six years so I don’t really remember the specifics,” Cao said. “But I just remember thinking that some members were being insensitive, not recognizing that there was an immigrant – me -- in the room with them.”

Cao, the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress, said he continues to hear comments about “too many immigrants” from some Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, Democrats³ are picking up a larger share of Asian-American voters. It is because of the anti-immigrant talk from Republican politicians and Republican opposition⁴ to immigration law changes, says Cao and other Asian-American leaders.

In 2012, Asian-Americans gave 73 percent of their votes to Democratic President Barack Obama, according to the National Election Poll.

That’s more than twice the percentage Democratic President Bill Clinton received in 1992.

Cao, a lawyer, came to the United States in 1975. He and his brother fled Vietnam after the Communists won the Vietnam War.

Older Vietnamese tend to favor the Republican Party because it is seen as more anti-Communist than Democrats, he says. Cao said he also favored Republican views on limited government.

But Cao, 48, said younger Vietnamese are trending more Democratic.

Comments by Republicans that sound anti-immigrant turn younger voters toward Democrats, he said.

Joseph Choe, 20, a Harvard University student, recently questioned Republican Donald Trump⁵ during a New Hampshire meeting.

“Are you from South Korea?" Trump asked.

Choe replied that he was born in Texas and raised in Colorado.

And Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee tweeted this about Democrat² Bernie Sanders:

“I trust @BernieSanders with my tax dollars like I trust a North Korean chef with my Labrador!," he tweeted.

Those comments tell Asian-American voters that Republicans don’t care about them, said S.B. Woo, the former lieutenant⁶ governor of Delaware.

Woo is a physicist⁷ who founded the 80-20 National Asian American Political Action Committee.

His group works to turn out 80 percent of the Asian-Americans' vote for the group’s endorsed⁸ candidate.

Woo said the trend toward Asian-American Democratic support is continuing in the 2016 presidential race.

But he said Democrats should not take Asian-American support for granted. Frustrations⁹ over college admission practices could lead to more Asian-Americans voting Republican, Woo said.

Many Asian-Americans believe some elite¹⁰ universities limit the percentage of Asian-American students, Woo said.

On this issue, the politics favor Republicans, Woo said. Democrats are seen as more supportive than Republicans of affirmative action policies, he said.

Such policies are designed to ensure all races and ethnic¹¹ groups are represented in student bodies.

Asian-American students are high achievers, Woo said. Efforts to equalize ethnic and racial representation at colleges mean worthy¹² Asian-American students are denied admission.

Harvard University and other Ivy¹³ League schools deny their admission policies discriminate¹⁴ against Asian-American applicants¹⁵.

“In fact, within its holistic¹⁶ admissions process, and as part of its effort to build a diverse class, Harvard College has demonstrated a strong record of recruiting and admitting Asian-American students,” said Robert Juliano, Harvard University’s general counsel. He said Asian-Americans make up 21 percent of Harvard undergraduates.

Another factor that could reverse the trend of Asian-American support for Democrats is income. Higher income voters tend to support Republican candidates who tend to favor lower taxes.

And the median income for Asian-American households in 2009 was $65,469, compared to $51,863 for white households, and $38,039 for Hispanic households, according to Census¹⁷ Bureau statistics.

The importance of the Asian vote is increasing.

The Asian-American population is expected to more than double, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Asian-American share of the U.S. population is expected to increase from 5.1 percent to 8.1 percent during that period.

The Pew Research Center broke down the Asian-American population from the 2010 census this way: 4 million from China; 3.4 million from the Philippines; 3.2 million from India; 1.74 million from Vietnam; 1.7 million from Korea; 1.3 million from Japan; 409,000 from Pakistan; and 277,000 from Cambodia.

Words in This Story

insensitive – adj. showing that you do not know or care about the feelings of other people

incumbent¹⁸ – n. a person who holds a particular office or position

advantage – n. something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others

holistic – adj. relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts

diverse – adj. different from each other

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

8 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

12 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

13 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

14 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

15 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

16 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

17 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

18 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。