Georgia On My Mind: AAPI voters could decide who will rule the U.S. Senate

NPR

ANALYSIS:

Asian American voters played a key role in battleground states, according to exit polls taken during the Nov. 3 elections, according to an analysis by a an AAPI advocacy coalition. They can again play a crucial role in Georgia's Jan. 5 runoff elections for U.S. Senate.

Georgia's two senate  runoff between the GOP's Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and Republican Sen. David Perdue against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoffs could determine which party will have the majority in the U.S. Senate during Joe Biden's first term as President starting Jan. 20, 2021.

Bloomberg News quoted  Sam Park, the first Asian American Democrat elected to the Georgia General Assembly: “There’s a saying that the Asian American community has gone from being a marginalized community to being the margin of victory.That could be very true here in Georgia.”

New data released by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) noted the importance of the AAPI vote in Georgia and three other battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada.

“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,” said AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung.

Except for the Vietnamese and Hmong communities, all other Asian ethnic groups and nationalities voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

The four states in the survey, which for voted for Trump in 2016, flipped and went Democratic earlier this month.

The states were among the last counted and their electoral votes pushed Biden-Harris over the top, giving him enough electoral votes to proclaim the Democrats victors in the closer-than-expected presidential contest.

Georgia's flip is a tribute to the groundwork in registering voters by Stacey Abrams, a former member of the state's House of Representatives and who barely lost in her gubernatorial bid. 

None of the state's top-two vote-getters in the Senate races achieved more than 50% of the votes so by state law, a runoff is necessary. Survey findings may give an indication how Georgia's AAPI electorate will vote in the Jan. 5 runoff. 

The Asian American population has soared in counties surrounding Atlanta in recent years, drawn to the area by jobs in tech, science and medicine. The surge in AAPI voters -- almost a quarter million registered voters, or about 5% of the total voters -- have made them a critical demographic for politicians and marketers.

Highlights of the AALDEF survey of AAPI voters in 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%.

For the Presidential election, AAPI voters turned out in historic numbers. Despite facing a pandemic, hours-long lines at the polls, language barriers, and heightened fear and intimidation about voting, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities overcame unacceptable barriers to exercise their right to vote. 

Leaning heavily towards Democrats, the chief concerns of AAPI voters are in line with most other Democrats centering on economic issues income inequality and the call for higher taxes on the rich, pollsters say.

They heard the racist rhetoric from the White House and aware of the rise of attacks against their kids in school, the flagging economy shutting down their businesses and the toll the coronavirus has taken on healthcare providers.

Early voting was favored by many of elderly who had to overcome their fear of contracting COVID-19 in order to cat their ballots. 

"Being able to cast my vote with an absentee ballot means my voice still counts.” said 76-year-old Ok Hui Kim, who chose to vote absentee to decrease the risk of being exposed to the virus

The high vote total among AAPI can be attributed to an aggressive and unprecedented multi-lingual registration and get-out-the-vote drive. In the three months prior to the November vote, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta) dialed 92% of the estimated 238,000 eligible AAPI voters across the state. 

AAPI communities across Georgia showed up to vote early and began Election Day having already flexed our power - 50% of registered Asian American voters had already cast their ballots, increasing turnout by 141% since 2016. In Gwinnett County alone, there were three times more AAPI early voters than in 2016, over 30,000 compared to 9,500. Of those, 43% did not vote in 2012, 2016 or 2018, according to Advancing Justice. 

Besides having an impact on the Presidential and Georgia's U.S. Senate races, the huge turnout helped elect Marvin Lim, the first Filipino American to the state legislature. Lim won the primary with 62% of the vote and since the GOP didn't have a candidate to run against him, Lim's Nov. 7 victory was a foregone conclusion.

Lim will represent House District 99, an Atlanta suburb comprised of 85% minorities, 53% of whom are immigrants.

The nation's attention will be on Georgia this Jan. 5, 2021. Both Republicans and Democrats are mobilizing their people and devoting resources to the runoff contest. Already, 6e00,000 voters have requested absentee ballots, tweeted Abrams.

Georgians who didn’t get signed up in time to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential election now have until Dec. 7 to register to vote in the Jan. 5 runoffs. Early voting for the runoffs starts Dec. 14 after a record of nearly 5 million Georgians voted in the general election. Qualified voters can register online with a valid ID through the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

Democrats worry that without Donald Trump on the ballot to motivate anti-Trump voters, it will be difficult to energize Democratic voters for the Jan. 5 runoffs. Historically, conservative voters tend to turn out more in extra-inning contests.

Andrew Yang, a Presidential candidate during the Democratic primaries, said he'll be going to Georgia to help drum up excitement in the January election. “It looks like Democrats have an uphill climb in Georgia,” Yang told Yahoo Finance Live last week. “It seems like it’s because Democratic voters actually need a little bit more awareness raising to the fact that there is a special election on January 5, and conservatives are more plugged in to voting in Georgia.”

“The case to make in Georgia is exactly identical to the case that was just made with Joe at the top line,” continued Yang. He argues that the Democrats message should be getting a functional government.  “In this case, we need to deliver a Senate that will actually be looking to pass laws and not have a replay of Mitch McConnell being the obstructionist during the Obama years.”

 “AAPI communities are showing up at the polls and redefining what Georgia’s electorate looks like, said Stephanie Cho, executive director of Advancing Justice-Atlanta. "As the nation’s fastest growing population of immigrants eligible to vote, AAPI communities in Georgia will continue to grow in influence. We are only just beginning to come into our power. We will continue to show up and vote up and down the ballot for our issues, our rights, and our communities.”