Asian-Americans are more divided than the rest of the U.S. public when it comes to the level of their satisfaction with the direction of the country.

About four-in-ten (43%) Asian Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, about half (48%) are dissatisfied and the remainder have no opinion. By contrast, just 21% of the U.S. general public are satisfied and three-quarters (75%) are dissatisfied, according to a January 2012 Pew Research survey.

Views about the direction of the country are strongly associated with partisanship. Asian-American Democrats are more satisfied than either Republicans or independents. The same pattern occurs among the general public.

On average, foreign-born Asian Americans are more likely than the native born to be satisfied with the direction of the country (46% vs. 32%). And recent immigrants are more likely than those who arrived before 2000 to be satisfied with the direction of the country (58% vs. 41%).

Among the U.S. Asian groups, Vietnamese Americans are more satisfied with the direction of the country than are other U.S. Asian groups. Filipino Americans and Japanese Americans are less satisfied with the direction of the country than are other country of origin groups. Chinese Americans fall in the middle, with 41% satisfied and 49% dissatisfied with the direction of the U.S. As with Asian Americans as a whole, Chinese Americans who were born in the U.S. are less satisfied than Chinese immigrants with the direction of the country (28% to 44% among foreign-born Chinese Americans). Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.