California's AAPI voters favoring Biden, Sanders & Harris

Whoever wins the California primary will have a pretty good shot at becoming the Democratic nominee for President. AAPI voters make up about 1 out of every 6 registered voters, and could strong say who will win the state's electoral jackpot.

Except for a notable antipathy towards Donald Trump -- probably due to his anti-immigrant policies -- a large number of AAPI voters have not committed to any particular candidate, according to a poll conducted for AAPI Data.

California's primary will be earlier than past years. It will be held on "Super Tuesday," March 3 and its 495 delegates dwarf any of the earlier primaries amounting to about 11% of the Democrat's total delegates.

(Early voting in California begins Feb. 3, the same day as the Iowa Caucus.)

New data released by AAPI Data surveying AAPIs in the state show that with five months to go, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris are the communities' favorites. Elizabeth Warren is lagging but could easily gain if she does well in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina. Andrew Yang rounds out the top five. 

The survey was taken July 5 to Sept. 5, prior to the September debate in partnership with PRRI. As the following graphic shows for Harris, Warren and Yang, there's a large number of voters who haven't made up their minds yet or haven't heard enough from the candidates.

In an analysis by AAPI Data, it was found that AAPI voters lean towards the Democrats with a decided anti-Trump factor. 

"About 56% of AAPI adult citizens had unfavorable opinions toward the President, compared to 33% who held a favorable view," reads the analysis. "Only one California AAPI group, Vietnamese Americans, who have long been the most Republican-leaning among AAPIs, were more likely to approve (46%) than disapprove (37%) of the President.

"Notably, 60 percent or more of Indian, Chinese, Hmong , and Japanese Americans disapproved of the President," the report points out.

The AAPI Data analysis broke down the data further per ethnicity. Not surprisingly, Harris had a high favorability rating among Indian Americans. The data also showed that she did not share the favorable impression among other AAPI communities.

At the same time, there were some important differences. Asian Indians gave the highest net favorability for Harris (a fellow Indian American) and Biden, with lower favorability ratings for Sanders, Warren, and Yang. Harris did not enjoy similarly high favorability ratings among other Asian American or Pacific Islander groups.

Unlike Harris favored by Indian Americans, Yang was unable to gain similar support among Chinese Americans, which favored Biden.

Sanders enjoyed support in the Filipino, Vietnamese and Hmong American communities.
While it may appear that there is a strong anti-Trump vote and pro-Democrat vote among AAPI voter, the large number of uncommitted voters indicates that more outreach to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by the various campaigns and by both major parties is needed.

Read the complete analysis here.______________________________________________________________

An important message to California's AAPI voters

ONE MORE DAY. Well, fellow Californians, You've been inundated with never-ending TV commercials and online popup ads for the last month and now it's your turn. Are you ready to cast your vote?

Many of us come from countries where out vote doesn't matter, where the vote is suppressed and democratic participation is not encouraged.

"Our families endured many hardships to come to the United States for its freedom and opportunity. Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) can honor their family's legacy and sacrifice by voting on November 6," said Christine Chen, Executive Director of APIAVote,

"APIAVote's 2018 Asian American Voter Survey found that financial security, quality healthcare, good public schools, and safety from gun violence are the top issues motivating AAPI voters in this midterm election. To ensure their voices are heard, APIAVote and our partners are calling hundreds of thousands of voters to help them make their plans to vote and honor family's legacy and sacrifice.”

Our friends at the ACLU have prepared the following hints and links to make your day go easier.

1. What’s your voting plan? Use our tool to make your personalized plan for Tuesday -- pick a time and location that work for you. Check what forms of ID you need to bring in California.


2. Do you know what's on your ballot? Click here to take a look at everything you’ll be voting on, compare candidates and positions, and even print it out (or send it to your phone) so you can bring it into the voting booth.


3. Are your friends and family voting? Send them a quick text to make sure. Better yet, give them a call -- and forward this email to help them make a plan.

In case you needed a reminder, friend -- so much is at stake on Tuesday:

We can restore some balance and a sense of sanity back in Congress by electing Democrats. Under the GOP, neither the House or the Senate has challenged any of Trump's outlandish ideas.

• The attack on family reunification and halving the number of legal immigrants that could enter the U.S. are real elements of Donald Trump's proposed immigration reform that would prevent you from petitioning for your parents, brothers and sisters to come to the U.S.

• If the GOP retains control of both houses in Congress, they will continue to pare down the Affordable Care Act. They know they can't eliminate it. The American public, including many of their supporters, rely on the ACA for their health care needs. So they will continue to nibble around the edges by removing key elements that keep it affordable or reduce funding for advertising or outreach to attract more clients.

• The massive tax cuts -- the one campaign promise they did fulfill -- to the ultra rich has reduced money coming into the government so what is their solution? They want to take money from other parts of the government including Social Security and Medicare. The middle-class tax cuts promise Trump uttered a couple of weeks ago is not going to happen because it would send out debt soaring even more than it has already.

If you're angry at the shenanigans going on in Washington, or you want to do something more than just complain, here's your chance to do your part of democracy -- VOTE! Stop checking your social media, take a break from studying, get off that couch and head to the polls.

Your vote counts! You -- as an immigrant, as an American citizen, as an Asian American -- matter! VOTE!

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