Pew Research Center: Asian American voters are an increasingly influential electorate

After making an impact in the 2020 elections, and fighting against attempts to temper their vote, the AANHPI community is hard to ignore heading into the Nov. 8 Midterm elections.

This November, about 13.3 million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote, making up 5.5% of all eligible voters, according to Pew Research Center projections.

Asian Americans  are still the fastest-growing community and leans towards the Democrats, according to information released by the Pew Research Center Wednesday. Asian American eligible voters are still growing three times faster than other demographic groups.

Fifty-seven percent of English-speaking, Asian registered voters said they would likely vote for the Democratic candidate in their US House of Representatives district race, while 26% said they would likely support the Republican candidate. In midterm elections, voter turnout rates are typically low so if AANHPI community advocates can muster their communities to go to the polls their impact could be greater than their actual numbers.

The Pew Research Center presents some quick facts about this year's Asian American electorate:

1. As of 2020, the majority of Asian American eligible voters (56%) live in only five states. California has the highest number of Asian American eligible voters by far (4.2 million). The state is home to nearly a third (32%) of the entire U.S. Asian electorate. 

The state with the second-most Asian American eligible voters is New York (1.1 million), followed by Texas (930,000), Hawaii (565,000) and New Jersey (505,000).

2. Hawaii is the only state where Asian Americans make up a majority of the eligible voter population. Asian Americans make up 55% of the electorate in Hawaii, the only state where a racial or ethnic group other than single-race White, non-Hispanic eligible voters are the majority. Following Hawaii, the states with the largest shares of Asian eligible voters are California (16%) and Nevada (10%).

Hawaii also has the highest share of eligible voters within its Asian population. Seven-in-ten Asians in Hawaii are eligible to vote, the highest share of any state with an Asian population of 50,000 or more. Following Hawaii on this measure are Nevada (64%), California (61%), Louisiana (60%) and Florida (59%).

3. Overall, more than half of all Asian Americans in the U.S. (56%) are eligible to vote, compared with 72% of the total U.S. population. Asian Americans are less likely than Americans overall to be eligible to vote because a significant share are immigrants who are not U.S. citizens. 

4. A majority of Asian American eligible voters (57%) are naturalized citizens, rather than U.S.-born citizens. Asian Americans are the only major racial or ethnic group where the majority of eligible voters are naturalized citizens. A smaller share of Asian American eligible voters (43%) are U.S.-born citizen.

5. Asian American voters are more likely than the overall eligible voter population to have a bachelor’s degree. As of 2020, half of Asian American eligible voters have a bachelor’s degree or more education. By comparison, about a third (33%) of the total eligible voter population has at least a bachelor’s degree. Asian eligible voters are also more likely than the general eligible voter population to have a postgraduate degree of some kind, such as a master’s degree or law degree (19% vs. 12%). Pew analyses from earlier releases found that educational attainment varies widely among different Asian American subgroups.

6. Asian Americans are slightly younger than other voters. The median age for Asian American eligible voters is 44, compared with 48 among the broader population of eligible voters. And 36% of Asian American eligible voters are ages 30 to 49, compared with 32% of the total eligible voter population.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.