News
“Asian-Americans Mostly Vote Democratic, Could Be Key in Some Early Primary States”
May 14, 2007, blogs.usatoday.com
By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence
Presidential candidates take note: Asian-Americans vote mostly Democratic, but exit polling done by a leading Asian advocacy group shows their allegiances do vary somewhat by ethnic lines, USA TODAY White House/Politics editor Catalina Camia writes.
That’s key, she adds, in early primary states such as Nevada, California, New York and New Jersey, where the Asian-American population is growing.
Camia continues:
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund today released a report on a multilingual exit poll of more than 4,700 Asian-American voters in nine states, conducted during the 2006 elections. Among its findings:
Four out of five Asian-American voters supported Democratic candidates in top races such as the Senate contests in New Jersey and Virginia. South Asians—such as Asian-Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis—were the most Democratic, the report said.
Southeast Asians, such as Vietnamese, were the least likely to be enrolled in the Democratic Party. Filipinos had the highest rates of people enrolled in the Republican Party (22%), but a majority (52%) were Democrats and nearly a quarter (24%) were not enrolled in either party.
For the 2008 elections, Asian-Americans said they want the presidential candidates to address issues in this order: economy/jobs (28%), health care (19%), war in Iraq (15%) and education (15%). Immigration was chosen by 9% of the Asian-Americans surveyed, the report said.
Why this could matter: In Nevada, Asian-Americans make up about 3.3.% of the voting age population. In California, it’s nearly 6%, according to the non-profit APIAVote, which promotes civic participation on the national, state and local levels by Asians and Pacific Islanders.
Posted by Mark Memmott at 02:37 PM/ET, May 14, 2007 in Democrats, Demographics, Interest groups, Presidential race 2008 |