Press Release

New York, NY – The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) today released new data from its exit poll of 5,424 Asian American voters in 13 states and Washington, DC, noting the importance of the Asian American vote in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada.

AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung said, “Asian Americans, especially new voters, were part of the record turnout of communities of color in the 2020 elections. Asian American voters played an important role in close races in several battleground states, and our voices must not be overlooked in the political process."

Since 1988, AALDEF has conducted multilingual exit polls in Asian American communities on Election Day. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the upsurge in voting by mail, AALDEF volunteers approached voters in Nevada and Florida during the early voting period and in all other states on Election Day, November 3, 2020.

Jerry Vattamala, AALDEF Democracy Program Director, said “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we dispatched more than 400 volunteers to polling places, interacting with voters in English and nine Asian languages through paper surveys or by providing voters with QR codes to complete the surveys online."

Among all Asian American voters polled:

• Asian Americans favored Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 68% to 29%.
• There was no gender gap between Asian American men and women, with 67% of women and 66% of men voting for Biden and both groups supporting Trump at 31%.
• The only ethnic group to favor Trump were Vietnamese American voters, by a margin of 57% to 41%.

The breakdown of voters by ethnicity was as follows:

First-Time Voters, Political Party, Nativity, English Language Proficiency, and Gender

• 27% were first-time voters; 73% were not first-time voters.

• 54% were registered Democrats; 16% were registered Republicans; 27% were not enrolled in a party; and 3% were enrolled in another party.

• 27% were native-born U.S. citizens; 73% were foreign-born naturalized citizens.

• 7% were limited English proficient (LEP); and 63% spoke English well.

• 52.9% were Female; 46.7% were Male; 0.4% Non-Binary.

Battleground States

Pennsylvania

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 63% to 36%.
• All Asian ethnic groups supported Biden over Trump, except for Cambodian American voters (50% for Trump and 45% for Biden) and Vietnamese American voters (73% for Trump and 27% for Biden).
• Among voters not enrolled in any party, the breakout was 56% for Biden and 40% for Trump, and among voters affiliated with other parties, 54% for Biden and 39% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden by a wide margin, 62% to 36%.

Georgia

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 62% to 36%.
• In the U.S. Senate races, Asian Americans voted for Democratic candidates over Republicans by a margin of 61% to 34%.
• All Asian ethnic groups in the state supported Biden over Trump except for Korean American voters (60% for Trump and 39% for Biden).
• Among voters not enrolled in any party, the breakout was 63% for Biden and 30% for Trump, and among voters affiliated with other parties, 60% for Biden and 20% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden by a wide margin 61% to 36%.

Michigan

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 85% to 13%.
• In the U.S. Senate race, Asian Americans voted for the Democratic candidate over the Republican by a margin of 85% to 9%.
• All ethnic groups overwhelmingly voted for Biden, with 100% of both Arab and Pakistani American voters supporting Biden and 0% supporting Trump.
• Republican voters in Michigan crossed over much more frequently than voters in other states to support Joe Biden and did not vote along party lines as in other states (64% for Trump and 21% for Biden).
• Among voters not enrolled in any party, the breakout was 63% for Biden and 33% for Trump; and among voters affiliated with other parties, 67% for Biden and 33% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden by an overwhelming margin 89% to 15%.

Nevada

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 57% to 40%.
• Unlike other swing states, voters not enrolled in any party did not favor Biden over Trump, voting 46% for Biden and 46% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden over Trump (63% to 37%) by wider margins than non-first-time voters, 53% for Biden and 42% for Trump.

You can download a copy of the report here.

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For more information, contact:

Jerry Vattamala, Democracy Program Director
jvattamala@aaldef.org
212.966.5932 ext. 209

Margaret Fung, Executive Director
mfung@aaldef.org
212.966.5932 ext. 201

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Special thanks to the following law firms, bar associations, student associations, schools, and community groups that helped to recruit volunteers to monitor polling places and conduct the 2020 exit poll in collaboration with AALDEF:

Law Firms

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Baker Botts LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Fish & Richardson PC
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Holland & Knight LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kramer Levin LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, PC
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Ropes & Gray LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Weil Gotshal LLP
WilmerHale LLP
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP

Community and Student Groups

American Citizens for Justice / Asian American Center for Justice (ACJ) - Michigan
American Friends Service Committee
Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) - Michigan
Asian American Bar Association of New York
Asian American Federation of New York
Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM)
Asian Americans United (AAU) - Pennsylvania
Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) - Massachusetts
Asian Law Alliance - California
Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance - Nevada
Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) - Virginia
Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs-Austin - Texas
Association of Chinese Americans - Michigan
Austin Asian Communities Civic Coalition - Texas
Austin Asian Complete Count Committee - Texas
Boston University APALSA
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Lowell (CMAA) - Massachusetts
Cardozo School of Law
Center for Pan Asian Community Services - Georgia
Chinese American Planning Council, Inc
Chinese Progressive Association - Boston, NY
Columbia Asian American Alliance
Columbia School of Social Work Asian Pacific Islander Student Caucus (CSSW API Caucus)
Dallas Asian American Bar Association
De Anza College - Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action
Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York
Florida Asian Services (FAS)
Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (GAPABA)
George Washington University Law School
Harvard American Constitution Society
Harvard APALSA
Harvard Kennedy School of Government - Asian Pacific American Caucus
Harvard Pan-Asian Graduate Student Alliance
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health South Asian Student Association (MA)
Homecrest Community Services
Hunter College Asian American Studies Program
Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York (KALAGNY)
MinKwon Center for Community Action
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum NYC Chapter (NAPAWF*NYC)
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)
National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium - PA Chapter
National LGBT Bar Association
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
New York City Bar Association
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates
OCA Greater Houston
OCA - NY Chapter
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC)
Pilipino American Unity for Progress NY (UniPro NY)
Q-Wave
Rutgers Law School-Newark APALSA
Rutgers Law School-Camden APALSA
South Asian Bar Association of North America
South Asian Network (SAN)
Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, Inc. (SEAMAAC)
South Asian Bar Association Dallas
South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston (SABA GB)
South Asian Bar Association - New Jersey
South Asian Bar Association - New York
Spotify Asian Community Engagement
Tipping Point - CA
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Michigan Law School - APALSA
University of Minnesota Law School - Public Interest
University of Texas at Austin - Center for Asian American Studies
VietLEAD - Pennsylvania
Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA) - Louisiana
Yale University
Zoho