美国少数族裔在总统大选中的行为特征和影响力

Ethnic Minorities' Behavioral Characteristics and Influence in the Presidential Election of the United States

美国少数族裔在总统大选中的影响力正日益增强,一是源于其人口规模的扩大和政治参与积极性的提高,二是源于决定大选胜负的"摇摆州"中存在大量的少数族裔摇摆选民,三是源于选举人团模式下的竞选体制将更依赖于少数族裔的作用。在整体影响力增强的背景下,西裔、非裔和亚裔在人口规模和社会经济地位上的差异使他们在大选中发挥的影响力有所不同,且西裔较低的政治参与比例和亚裔的"政治冷漠"使少数族裔在大选中并未发挥应有的影响力水平。在具体表现上,因各少数族裔在利益诉求上既有相同点又有诸多差别,这就造成他们在大选中的行为特征呈现出多样性。

American ethnic minorities have been playing an increasingly important role in presidential election for three reasons—the enlargement of ethnic minority population and the growth of their political participation;the large number of ethnic minorities who appear as swing electors in swing states,and the presidential campaign system which is based on the electoral college model.Hispanic Americans,African Americans and Asian Americans,which are the three most important groups of ethnic minorities,have different influence on the election for their differences in terms of population scale and social and economic status.Besides,Hispanics' low participation rate and Asians' political apathy have made ethnic minorities fail to bring their potential influence to full play in the election.And in terms of behavioral characteristics,Hispanic Americans,African Americans and Asian Americans have quite a lot in common as well as plenty of differences,which leads to differcent behavioral characteristics in the election.