The Attitudes of Asian Americans Toward Affirmative Action

Asian Americans are increasingly a factor in the political life of the United States, which makes it important to gain an accurate rendering of their position on key social issues that impact the nation. One area where there is a lack of understanding about the position of Asian Americans is with the issue of affirmative action. The 80-20 National Education Foundation (“80-20”) submitted an amicus brief in the Fisher Supreme Court case on affirmative action,2 reporting that “47,000 Asian Americans revealed overwhelming support (by a more than 52:1 ratio) within the community for race-neutral, merit-based college admission policies” (p. 2). However, this is a significant difference from any other poll on Asian Americans’ attitudes toward affirmative action. This brief examines existing research on the attitudes of Asian Americans regarding affirmative action and compares these results to the poll conducted by 80-20.