AALDEF Survey: AAPI voters impacted election outcomes in battleground states

 

The Asian American and Pacific Islander electorate has been a difficult demographic to define because of it's vast diversity of cultures, nationalities, religions, languages and physical appearances.

Because of the great variance, political campaigns have historically overlooked the AAPI communities and concentrated in easier-to-reach blocks of voters. As result, campaigns neglect them, polls ignore them, and they are invisible to mainstream media.

Nationwide, there are about 11 million AAPI voters representing about 23 million people. However, in 2020, it is evident that AAPI communities have concentrated in specific districts, cities and states  making their votes critical for campaigns who take the time and resources to reach out to them.

There has also been a lack on data about the voting habits of AAPI communities. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), is one of the few groups -- besides API Vote and AAPI Data -- bothering to gather data on the increasingly impactful AAPI communities. Last week, the AALDEF 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.

Following is the AALDEF press release.

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.”

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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.
• 14% 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%.
• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 85% to 13%.Michigan

Michigan

• 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.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.