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Press of Atlantic City – Less than a week before the Nov. 8 election, the battle lines were drawn at Ali’s Star Restaurant and Grocery.

On Wednesday evening, an array of Democratic candidates took their seats around the same red-clothed tables used for a Republican reception the night before in the South Asian neighborhood.

Both parties have worked to gain the support of Asian-Americans, the fastest growing minority group and an increasingly formidable voting bloc in Atlantic County.

“When you have a close election, like this one, the Asian community can tilt the election,” said Upendra Chivukula, the first – and, so far, only – Indian-American elected to the state Assembly.

Chivukula, D-Middlesex, came to Wednesday’s event to help rally support for local Democrats. Republicans, meanwhile, have fostered their own bases of support within the burgeoning immigrant communities.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county’s Asian population grew by 63 percent between 2000 and 2010. Since 2007, they’ve grown from 6.7 to 7.5 percent of the total population. Statewide, that figure rose from 7.6 to 8.3 percent during the same time period.

Jane Junn, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California, said that while Asian-Americans have historically voted Democratic, their vote can’t be considered a sure thing.

A 2010 survey by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund found that 65 percent of Asians considered themselves Democrats, but the level of support varied widely among individual groups. According to the survey, 87 percent of Bangladeshi-Americans self-identified as Democrats, while just 18 percent of Vietnamese aligned themselves with the party.

Junn said the relative newness of the population – eight out of 10 adults are foreign-born – means that party affiliation isn’t concrete.

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By Wallace McKelvey