MULTIETHNIC COALITION’S STATEWIDE POLL SHOWS ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS VIEWS ON DISCRIMINATION, COVID-19 RECOVERY, AND POLICE REFORM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Justine Ventura Mejia

Programs Manager

Phone: (213) 269-4639

Email: justine@causeusa.org

Los Angeles, CA, July 17, 2020 – As California confronts the unprecedented threat of COVID-19 and historic civil unrest, statewide polling conducted by a coalition of diverse nonprofit organizations led by CAUSE demonstrates that the state’s most prominent racial and ethnic groups are coalescing on paths forward for both police reform and for the re-opening of the state.

The Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE), in a historic and unprecedented partnership with Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) and Los Angeles Urban League, conducted a poll that showed that Californians, including the Asian Pacific American community, believe race relations in the state and nationally have worsened since earlier this year, but do not blame recent protests for that skepticism and credit the protests for bringing people of different races closer together and raising awareness as to the extent of racial discrimination. The poll is the second in a two-part poll series that began in February of this year, and surveyed 1,184 adults statewide with over-samples of Latinos, African Americans and Asian Pacific Americans (APA) to allow more detailed analysis.

“In these difficult times, California’s Asian Pacific community can and should play a leadership role in taking on the state’s most pressing challenges and working together toward necessary solutions,” said CAUSE Board Chair Charlie Woo. “Those of us at CAUSE have always dedicated ourselves toward preparing leaders to move our community forward: this poll provides a roadmap for the path toward those goals.

“These historic series of polls track the shifts in Californians’ attitudes towards some of our state’s most pressing issues, and we now have a more vivid picture of how communities of color are feeling in California,” said CAUSE Board Member and poll director Dan Schnur. “This is the first time that organizations representing these three communities have teamed up on a project like this one, and we’re honored that CAUSE was able to play such an instrumental role in bringing this coalition together.”

ALTHOUGH RACE RELATIONS ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE WORSENED, MORE CALIFORNIANS ARE AWARE OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST APA COMMUNITY AND OTHER COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

Compared to the first poll taken in February, the number of people who rate race relations in the state as excellent or good has decreased 13 percentage points, from 57% to 44%. Half of Asian Pacific Americans’ (APAs) feel personal discrimination from others, up from 42% prior to COVID-19. Simultaneously, APA’s positive opinion on race relations in California dropped by 16%.

Among the APA respondents, more have become aware of discrimination against other communities of color. They believe that 77% of African Americans and 70% of Latinos are frequently or sometimes face discrimination. Additionally, the onset of COVID-19 provoked an increase of hate crimes towards the APA community, and 68% of Californians now recognize that people of Asian descent also face discrimination, up from 55% in February.

“COVID-19 has ignited widespread discrimination and hate crimes towards Asian Americans, which has evidently affected their perception of race relations. Asian Americans have become more aware of the discrimination against their own communities, as well as against other communities of color,” Said Woo. “The fact that more Californians [now] recognize Asian Pacific Americans don’t just fit in as model minorities, but also are discriminated against and face challenges too, shows huge progress.”

MAJORITY IN APA COMMUNITY REPORT SUPPORT FOR POLICE REFORM AND PROTESTS

In the wake of George Floyd’s death and subsequent national protests, Californians of all racial and ethnic backgrounds largely agreed on the need for significant police reform. Polling demonstrated that 58% of Californians believed that the police’s use of force incidents were signs of systemic racism, and 33% believe these were isolated incidents. Among APA respondents, 54% believe that the police’s use of force incidents are signs of systemic racism, whereas 31% believe these are isolated incidents.

In regards to police reform, 79% of APA respondents support police reform, with 41% supporting adding training and accountability measures and 33% preferring instead to shift police funding and responsibilities to other agencies while maintaining the role of handling violent crimes. Among remaining APA respondents, 14% prefer to leave police departments as they are, and only 5% support abolishing police departments and shifting funding and responsibilities to other agencies.

A majority of Californians say recent protests have brought California closer together (55%) rather than farther apart (29%); and have brought people of different races closer together (56%) rather than farther apart (31%). For APA respondents, 56% reported a sense of positive feeling and belief that the recent protests have brought different races together.

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS CAUTIOUS ABOUT ECONOMY AND SCHOOL RE-OPENINGS

In considering the re-opening of the state economy and schools, an overwhelming number of Asian Pacific Americans were found to be worried and pessimistic. The poll found that 86% of APA respondents are worried about themselves or their immediate family contracting COVID-19, and 74% of APA respondents believed that the worst is yet to come for COVID-19’s impact on the health of Californians.

Given the current trajectory, 76% of APA respondents believe that the economy will worsen. In considering whether to re-open California’s economy, 77% of APA respondents are more concerned with the government lifting the restrictions too quickly whereas 16% are more concerned about lifting restrictions too slowly.

For re-opening schools in California, 47% of APA respondents support full-time distance-learning until the risk from COVID-19 is significantly reduced, whereas 33% support a partial re-opening and only 11% support a full re-opening of in-person classes with enforced social distancing measures.

This second poll was conducted online by Strategies 360 from June 26 to July 6, a Seattle-based polling and research firm. The full questions and poll results can be accessed on the firm’s website and Los Angeles Times coverage of the results can be seen here and here.

About CAUSE

Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based organization with a mission to advance the political empowerment of the Asian Pacific American community through nonpartisan voter outreach, training, and education as well as leadership development.

Since its founding 1993, CAUSE has led efforts to drive APA civic engagement, from facilitating in-language Get Out The Vote workshops in the Greater Los Angeles Area to hosting the first-ever APA-facing gubernatorial debate in California history in 2018. CAUSE plans to continue efforts in 2020 to mobilize the community by providing the knowledge, access, and network to inspire APAs of all ages to voice their vote.

For any further inquiries, please contact CAUSE via phone at (213) 269-4639 or email at info@causeusa.org. General information can be obtained from our website at www.causeusa.org. Our office is located at 1605 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite #1027, Los Angeles, CA 90015.

###