Wang notes that Fong supported Propositions 209 and 227, the California initiatives that abolished affirmative action and bilingual education programs, respectively. Their voter turnout is the lowest of any major racial group in the nation. California's Asian-American voters are a hard group to characterize politically. Like Fong, they supported Prop. 227, which abolished bilingual education, and which most Democrats opposed. But they opposed Republican-backed Prop. 209, which did away with affirmative action.
Some analysts expect the Asian-American vote to get more conservative.
On balance, California's Asian-American voters tend to line up right in between whites and Latinos politically, and are usually much closer to white Californians than to black Californians, according to Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. Until recently the affable Fong has made it easy for moderates of every ethnicity to support him. During the campaign, in debates and on the stump, Fong has presented himself as a moderate on issues such as the environment and abortion rights. He has cultivated ties to the business community and avoided the right-wing appeals on abortion, crime and gay rights that have seemed to hurt conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, who is trailing Gray Davis in recent polls. He benefits from the contrast with Boxer, who stands solidly on the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and alienates many moderates with a strident image.