Team undertakes extensive survey of Asian Americans

UC Berkeley political scientist and professor of law Taeku Lee is part of a team leading a newly announced, expanded study of the experiences and attitudes of Asian Americans in the most extensive look to date at the nation's fastest-growing racial group. The research, backed with $507,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation, will be conducted this year and published in summer 2017. It aims to provide important data for questions about the immigrant experience, attitudes on economic inequality and race-relations, and civic and political engagement. Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian American population in the U.S. grew by 46 percent, compared to a 10 percent growth rate for the overall population. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to exhibit the highest population growth rates, fueled by immigration, and number more than 20 million residents, or more than 6 percent of the population. By 2065, demographers estimate that Asian Americans will comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population. Role in presidential selection As a share of voters, Asian Americans have been the fastestgrowing electorate over the last five U.S. presidential elections, increasing from 1.7 million voters in 1996 to 3.9 million by 2012. The team conducting the new survey includes UC Berkeley's  Lee ; principal investigator Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of public policy and a professor of political science at UC Riverside; Jennifer Lee, a professor of sociology at UC Irvine; and Janelle Wong, a professor in the American Studies Program at the University of Maryland.