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Almarzouq

Sulwan Almarzouq

Jesse Latour

English 101

March 13 2014

Politics of Orange County in California

Orange county in California is a county that is well known for its staunch but diverse conservatism. However, the current political, social and economic landscape of Orange County has changed significantly as a result of immigration flows. To better understand the local politics of Orange County, it is important to first describe it demographic landscape. Demographically, the Orange County comprises of a diverse communities and races. It is the county accommodating about half of the immigrants. These immigrants comprises mainly of the Asian Americans and the Latinos. The Asian Americans account for about one-fifth of the population in Orange County whereas the Latinos is made up of more than a third of the total population. Most of the Asian Americans come from Vietnam. Significant percentage of immigrants reside in major cities in the county such as Buena Park, Fullerton and Anaheim. Politically, most of the immigrants supports the Grant Old Party (GOP). This is actually the other name for the Republicans. However, the article written by Wisckol (2012) reveals strange revelation about the politics of the Orange County. The article admits that Orange County's Asian American voters, led by Vietnamese Americans, are more likely to register as Republicans than Democrats. The statistics concur with this in the sense that 36% of Asian Americans in Orange County register as Republicans and 27% as Democrats (Reft, 2013). In the last election, it was found that President Obama, who is a democrat, secured 48% of the votes from the county. Romney won in the county. However, the study by Wisckol (2012) indicates that despite majority of the immigrants registering as Republicans, most of them support democrats. This implies that the party allegiance is relatively loose and that is why the members of the county can easily switch the party. Analysis of voters based on the city they reside also shows that virtually all voters from different cities tend to support the Democrats. This is strange because some cities whose residents registered as Republicans ends up supporting Democrats. As stated, the politics of this county has undergone a lot of changes. Initially, the county used to act as the social glue that held together region largely bereft of public spaces. History indicates that Republicans have not been doing well in the County. This is evidence by the failed Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. The county was also once very volatile in terms of political stability. This is because Asian Vietnamese, were in a war with US (Wisckol, 2012). This destabilized the county significantly. This lead to development of different laws and acts (Wisckol, 2012). Example of the acts formed include the War Bride Act of 1945. This was formed to intervene for cases where G.I.s wanted to marry the Asian women they got while in service during the U.S. and Vietnam War. Another act is the Soldier Brides Act of 1946 and the McCarren Act of 1952 (Wisckol, 2012). Generally, the major reason why most of the immigrants, which comprises mainly of the Asian Vietnamese tend to register through Republican is that Republican Ford Administration facilitated the immigration of the Asian Vietnamese into U.S. by coming up with Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act and also putting in place programs that would assist in settling the refugee. Such programs include the Camp Pendleton situated in Southern California. However, as the tension settles, most of the immigrants are beginning to support the Democrats. This implies that the immigrants have no political allegiance (Wisckol, 2012).

References

Wisckol, M. (2012). Wisckol: O.C. Asian Americans - GOP in name only? Retrieved from: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/percent-378258-asian-american.html

Reft, R. (2013). What's Old is New: How Orange County's Conservative Past Created its Demographics Today. Retrieved from: http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/intersections/how-orange-countys-conservative-past-created-its-demographics-today.html