Two-thirds of Asian American voters cast their ballots for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Donald Trump received only 30% of the Asian American vote according to an exit poll by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The AALDEF reelased preliminary results of its nonpartisan multilingual exit poll found that Asian Americans favored Biden over Donald Trum by a margin of 67% to 30%. They also favored Democratic candidates in close races in Georgia and supported Democratic candidates in Senate races in Maie, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia“With record voter turnout in the midst of a pandemic, the Asian American Exit Poll provides an important snapshot of the growing Asian American electorate, including their party affiliations and issues influencing their votes,” said AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung.
The exit poll also learned that 30% of the Asian American voters were first-time voters, the result of massive voter registration drives by a host of AAPI communityi agencies and the two major parties.
AALDEF volunteers, including attorneys, law students, community-based organizations, bar associations, student organizations, and community advocates, surveyed Asian American voters at 91 poll sites in 13 states and Washington, DC.
AALDEF also dispatched teams of attorneys and law students to monitor poll sites in California (San Jose), Massachusetts (Boston, Dorchester, Lowell, Malden, and Quincy), New Jersey (Bergen and Middlesex Counties), New Mexico (Albuquerque), New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens) and Pennsylvania (Bucks County, Delaware County and Philadelphia) for compliance with the language assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act and to guard against anti-Asian discrimination and intimidation.
More details of the exit poll will be released soon after all the ballots are tabulated. However, other initial highlights of the survey included:
- Party Affiliation: 56% Democrat, 16% Republican, 25% Not Enrolled, 4% Other
- Vote for U.S. Senate: 65% Democrat, 30% Republican, 2% Other, 4% Did not vote
- Gender: 53% Female, 47% Male, 1% Non-Binary
AALDEF Democracy Program Director Jerry Vattamala said: “In all states, a large percentage of the Asian American voters were not enrolled in a political party. Asian Americans, now the nation’s fastest growing racial minority group, could play a critical role in determining electoral outcomes in 2020 – particularly in Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania.”
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AALDEF Volunteers conducted the exit poll in several Asian languages.
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AALDEF attorneys and volunteers also observed a number of voter problems:
Georgia
A computer glitch appeared to show that several Asian American voters had voted during early voting, when they had not, preventing the voters from voting by regular ballot at the Oakcliff Elementary School poll site in DeKalb County, GA.
Another apparent computer glitch resulted in several voters, after waiting in line, learning that the polling place to which they were designated the night before (where they had voted in prior elections) had been changed to a different polling place and were turned away.
Pennsylvania
Voters overheard a poll worker make an Anti-Asian comment about an Asian American voter at the Reed Street Presbyterian Apartments poll site in Philadelphia.
After waiting in line at Mastery Thomas Charter School in Philadlephia, a Middle Eastern couple seeking to vote in person was told to go back home, return to the polling place and surrender their envelope and mail-in ballot. The couple complied and sought to vote by regular ballot after their mail-in ballot was spoiled by the poll workers. However, they were turned away without being allowed to vote, and told to “come back in four years.”
New York
An Asian American voter was directed by poll workers to another site, only to be told at the second site that she was not registered and was not allowed to vote at JHS 189 In Flushing, Queens.
In Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, poll monitors observed missing Asian-language signage and interpreters that are required under the federal Voting Rights Act for the following languages: Chinese, Korean, Bengali, and Hindi. Poll sites in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and multiple poll sites in Queens opened late, and some poll sites were missing poll site supervisors.
New Jersey
In Middlesex County and Bergen County, Gujarati and Korean bilingual poll workers and translated signage were missing at multiple poll sites.
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