Spanish and American colonialism and Filipino American political commonality with Latinos

ABSTRACT Are Filipino Americans closer to Asian Americans or Latinos, politically? We argue that due to Spanish and American colonialism, this is an open question. We test hypotheses regarding Filipino American distinctiveness from other Asian Americans using data from two nationally representative surveys of Asian Americans. Discrimination drives Filipino Americans’ sense of pan-ethnic linked fate with Asian Americans, but not their perceptions of political commonality with Latinos. We find suggestive evidence that Millennial Filipino Americans are more likely to perceive political commonality with Latinos than non-Millennial Filipino Americans. Given these findings, we question what is implied when scholars study the political behavior of immigrant groups and their descendants.