Well, another month, another poll or study concluding which we’ve blogged about already (National exit poll, Post-Election Survey of Asian American Voters and 2012, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund) that Asian Americans overwhelmingly support the Democrats over Republicans, where Gallup (as in the Gallup poll), reports:
“These findings are based on aggregated data from Gallup Daily tracking surveys conducted throughout 2012, including interviews with 6,465 Asian-Americans. For the purpose of this analysis, respondents are categorized as Asian-American if they self-identify their race as Asian. Republicans did not perform well among Asian-Americans in the 2012 election, losing this group by an estimated 72% to 26% margin. Asian-Americans make up a small but growing portion of the total electorate, probably 3% in 2012. While both parties and the media have focused highly after the election on the similarly Democratically skewed Hispanic vote, these data are a reminder that the Republican Party suffers from a competitive problem with this minority bloc as well.”
No surprise here. The findings also concluded (and not surprising either), that older Asian Americans were more conservative / Republican – like the broader population. Asian Americans were in large enough significant numbers in Nevada and Virginia in 2012 to make a difference, but at 3% of the overall electorate, the Asian American community is certainly not going to get the attention of elected officials unless Asian Americans start contributing politically in very large disproportion to their overall population as well as other interest groups. And I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Political interest, then participation and then giving takes time to nurture, and most Asian Americans have immigrated with the past decade or so. Also, I think there is a general awareness as to the need to be politically involved. But with every new Asian American running and winning elected office (especially in California, where a good majority of Asian Americans live), this awareness grows. It’ll be interesting to see in the next 10 to 20 years if Asian Americans predominantly lean Democratic, to see the level of participation and level of influence on public policy and on elected officials.
