A team of Chinese American pollsters fanned out through San Francisco on Nov. 3 to quiz Chinese American voters -- in Chinese and English. Their findings add new brush strokes to an otherwise sketchy picture of the "Asian American" voter. PNS associate editor A.A. Quong accompanied the pollsters.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Talk about "the ethnic vote" tends to gloss over important distinctions. This is particularly clear in the case of Asian Americans -- where an exit poll suggests it may be time to reconsider just who, exactly, is the "Asian American voter."

Here in San Francisco, where Chinese citizens were once notorious for not voting, newly enfranchised immigrants have swollen the Chinese American electorate to the point where it now accounts for one in three registered voters in some districts of the city. Now an exit poll commissioned by CAVEC, the Chinese American Voter Education Committee, adds brush strokes to the poorly realized sketch of this group.

CAVEC's pollsters targeted predominantly Chinese-speaking newcomers. "We sampled to get a pulse," explains David Lee, Executive Director of CAVEC. The non-partisan civic group wanted to know whether party registration was more important than ethnicity, with an eye on new district elections in the city in the year 2000, when Chinese Americans are likely to emerge as swing voters.

CAVEC's pollsters, who surveyed 300 Chinese American voters in English and Chinese, found some subtle differences from results reported by major media. For example, in the U.S. Senate race, CNN reported a majority of California's Asian Americans had voted for Barbara Boxer rather than Matt Fong. But two-thirds of Chinese Americans surveyed by CAVEC voted for Republican Fong -- although they voted three to one for Democrat Gray Davis for governor (as did the state's Asian-American voters).

Chinese American support for Fong fell from a high of 72 percent recorded in a CAVEC poll last May -- suggesting that Chinese voters aren't so willing to just vote for a Chinese face.

One intriguing finding was the discovery that 38% of Chinese American voters in this city are registered as nonpartisan, a figure three times the statewide average. Yet 78% support President Clinton and believe he should not be impeached.

Lee believes ethnic identification is only part of the story, and points to the Chinese-language news media, which were the major source of information for 59% of those polled.

In part, the media influence is related to the Fong campaign's heavy use of TV and newspaper ads in these media. But editorial content was an important factor as well, says Lee. "All the Chinese media were focused on the election," he pointed out. And while Matt Fong was the "common denominator," the important thing is that "among the Chinese press, politics is the reigning issue."

The surge of interest in politics is fueled partly by immigrant Chinese now settling into the city. Some energy also comes from struggles between American-born and foreign-born factions -- adding more shading to the seemingly opaque picture.

The CAVEC pollsters themselves -- predominantly Chinese American women and new citizens -- reflect the concerns and enthusiasms of the newcomer populations.

Jane Mok, 27, who lives with her four sisters and her parents mobilized relatives, neighbors and friends to pitch in because she believes the survey will ultimately "help the Chinese people."

"People say there's no discrimination, but it's not the truth," says Mok, who came to the U.S. from Hong Kong eight years ago. She wants to encourage newcomer Chinese to participate -- and not just vote along ethnic lines. Many newcomers, Mok notes, "think they want Chinese to be elected and that's it."

Bi Huang, a 35-year old hospital worker, came to the United States from China 1987 and voted for the first time this year, even though she gained citizenship seven years ago.

"It's better that more Chinese people are standing up for themselves," she says, smiling. "Before I didn't know English," she explains. "Now I know and understand more."