Dr. Loan Le (IGGI) and Phi Su (PhD Candidate, UCLA) complete manuscript for forthcoming publication (August 2015): “Electoral Participation Among Vietnamese Americans.” A draft of the manuscript has been accepted for publication and an update will be posted once it is published.
Abstract: The political incorporation of recent immigrant groups is a young and flourishing research field. However, research into immigrant integration in politics is multidimensional and complicated by individual-level socioeconomic resources, pre-migration experiences within the country of origin and post-migration experiences within the country of destination. Furthermore, analyses are often conducted at the level of pan-ethnic groups (Asian, Latino, etc.) or for particular regions of the United States rather than with nationally representative samples. Using national surveys with sufficient subgroup sample sizes, we contend that even within a given immigrant group with similar exit characteristics, substantial diversity in immigrant socialization during the initial contact and resettlement period apropos the destination country is a key imprinting moment. In particular, as one test of the “immigrant cohort hypothesis,” we investigate how membership in a “wave” of immigration to a new destination country – a question that has been understudied to date – predicts patterns in electoral participation among Vietnamese Americans.