Ethnic voting blocs seen as waning
| • | 'Democratic core' is more likely to vote, poll shows |
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ethnic voting as a factor in Hawai'i elections has diminished except among the newer immigrant communities, according to panel of political observers and participants who yesterday reviewed voting trends over the past half century.
The forum, titled "My Kine Mo' Bettah: Ethnicity and Politics," included Amy Agbayani, who has chaired political campaigns and the Civil Rights Commission; former City Council chairman Mufi Hanneman; and political analyst and author Tom Coffman. Sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League, it was held at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Agbayani said that Filipino voters are being targeted by both the Linda Lingle and Mazie Hirono campaigns, which are trying to position themselves as being supportive of immigrant issues and of placing Filipinos in government positions.
"Ethnicity continues to be important, but it's more important if one is Philippines-born than Hawai'i-born," Agbayani said. "And if one is working class, one is more connected to ethnic roots."
However, both local Filipinos and the new arrivals went solidly for Ben Cayetano in his gubernatorial races, she said.
Coffman made the same observation, underscoring that ethnic voting here has been most apparent at the point when barriers are broken, and then dissipates. When given the chance to elect the nation's first Filipino-American governor, he said, voters united under their ethnic banner.
"It was a rite of passage," he said. "It was a matter of pride. You're not just a legislator; you're the person who governs, who makes the decisions."
Agbayani also noted that Filipinos have gained supporters outside their own group. Cayetano was first elected to the Legislature from Pearl City, a district that at the time was only 5 percent Filipino, she said.
Although groups generally are not voting in blocs, Hanneman emphasized that cultural stereotypes do play a part. At the beginning of his career, he said, voters seemed to have trouble thinking of a Samoan who could succeed not only on the football field but in the political field as well.
In particular, he said, it's challenging to run as part of an small ethnic minority — and one in which not all residents are voting American citizens.
"I don't have that natural base that I can count on," he said. "I tend to be dismissed at the outset."
And although he's rejected suggestions that he downplay his ethnicity by running under his middle name — as M. Francis Hanneman — he does try to play the "local" card.
"I have emphasized the fact that I'm local, I'm not someone who has moved here," he said. "I'm locally born and raised."
Among Hawai'i's larger ethnic groups, Coffman said, bloc voting based on ethnicity has been more evident among Caucasians than among Japanese. What is evident instead among second-generation Japanese voters is their loyalty to the Democratic ticket, regardless of ethnicity.
Coffman said that loyalty was built without opposition from Republicans, who had failed to wholeheartedly support the statehood movement, a goal dear to the hearts of the Japanese Americans.
"Republicans didn't move quickly enough, even though the national Republican party was pro-statehood," he said.
"The simple question, 'Is there ethnic or bloc voting here?' I would have to give a simple answer: No," Coffman said. "I think we have ethnic inclinations that have changed over time.
"There was a consensus building in Hawai'i, going back before World War II, to create a multi-ethnic society in which opportunity was more widely shared, in which labor had a seat at the table."
