Poll: Georgia's Asian American voters decisively cast their ballots for Warnock

Sen. Raphael Warnock

While the final talley for Georgia's US Senator seat was close by a 2% difference, Asian American voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of incumbent US Senator Raphael Warnock in the runoff election according to exit polls conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Asian American voters’ support for Warnock over football legend Herschel Walker in Georgia's runoff grew even stronger in the month since the Nov. 8 election and the runoff election on Dec. 6. In theNovember 8 General Election, 60.1% voted for the incumbent. For the Dec.  6 runoff, Warnock captured 78% of the Asian American vote.

“The Senate runoff in Georgia was a critical election, not just for the state but also for the entire country. Georgians have given Senate Democrats a 51 to 49 majority that will affect our national policy for the coming years. For Asian American voters in Georgia, health care and specifically abortion access proved to be a critical issue strongly influencing their vote,” said Margaret Fung, executive director of AALDEF.

AALDEF released results Thursday of its nonpartisan, multilingual survey of 337 Asian American voters.

The overwhelming support from Asian American voters may have tilted the final results in Warnock's favor. Among the give Asian American ethnicities polled, Bangladeshi, Asian Indian and Vietnamese were adamant who they preferred. South Asians are the largest Asian group in the state.

Polling was conducted at five key sites for Asian American voters in DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Voters were surveyed in English, as well as 4 Asian languages: Bengali, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Volunteers also monitored for compliance with the language assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act, and to guard against anti-Asian discrimination and intimidation.

AALDEF attorneys and volunteers observed several problems on election day, such as voters being redirected to different poll sites, being sent to incorrect poll sites, and  voters not being provided provisional ballots.

Other results of the exit poll included:

The five largest Asian American national origin groups in the survey supported  Warnock:

• Bangladeshi: 96.3% Warnock, 3.7% Walker

• Asian Indian: 83.3% Warnock, 14.1% Walker

• Vietnamese: 80.0% Warnock, 20.0% Walker

• Korean: 64.8% Warnock, 35.2% Walker

• Chinese: 61.5% Warnock, 38.5% Walker

Warnock's support was strongest among all age groups. Younger voters were stronger in their support of Warnock and his support tapered off only slightly among older voters.

• Asian American voters aged 18-29 voted Warnock 92.0% and Walker 6.7%.

• Asian American voters aged 30-39 voted Warnock 87.5% and Walker 12.5%.

• Asian American voters aged 40-49 voted Warnock 84.9% and Walker 15.1%.

• Asian American voters aged 50-59 voted Warnock 66.1% and Walker 33.9%.

• Asian American voters aged 60-69 voted Warnock 71.9% and Walker 25.0%.

• Asian American voters aged 70 and over voted Warnock 37.5% and Walker 62.5%.

“Asian Americans were nearly unified in their support of Raphael Warnock for Senate and were likely the difference in this extremely close election. Unfortunately, too many Asian American voters were sent to the wrong poll site and were not given provisional ballots,” said Jerry Vattamala, director of AALDEF’s Democracy Program.

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

AALDEF survey: Georgia's AAPI voters come through for Democrats

Asian American voters played no small role in the election of Georgia's two new senators, according to a preliminary report by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Georgia's Jan. 5 runoff Senate elections in which the Democratic challengers upset two Republican incumbents is the result of a multi-racial coalition of Asian Americans, Blacks and Latinos.

According to preliminary results of the AALDEF multilingual exit poll on Jan. 5, Asian American voters in Georgia favored both Democratic candidates 2 to 1 over their GOP rivals. Rafael Warnock earned 64% of the vote and Jon Ossoff 68% in the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections.

AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung said: “Asian American voters played a critical role in electing Warnock and Ossoff in two extremely close races that will result in Democratic control of the U.S. Senate. Asian American voters must no longer be ignored in the political process.”

By flipping the two Senate seats, Democrats will have the majority in the Senate. There will be 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris will cast the deciding vote. With control of the Senate, it will be easier for Democrats to pass Biden's policies, most of which would undo or correct Donald Trump's policies particularly on climate change, immigration, health care and foreign relations.

Biden's biggest challenge, though, will be taking control of the coronavirus pandemic that has been ravaging the country and the rest of the world. Trump's mishandling of the virus has resulted in 363,000 deaths due to COVID-19.

The allies of young Black, Latino and Asian American progressives turned Georgia, usually a Republican stronghold, into a battleground state by awarding it's electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden last November and this Jan. 5, giving the state's two Senate seats to Democrats Warnock and Ossoff.

Key to the new powerful coalition was waking up the Asian American and Pacific Islander electorate, getting them interested in Georgia's politics and getting them excited enough to vote in droves. About 22% of the AAPI voters cast their ballot for the first time.

Many AAPI voters live in the counties north of Atlanta, areas that were among the last to be counted. The results from those suburban voters put Ossoff and Warneck ahead of their GOP opponents where they stayed up until the final count.

AALDEF has conducted its Asian American Exit Poll and monitored polling places in every major election since 1988. This year, AALDEF’s Exit Poll and Poll Monitoring program faced many challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, mail-in voting, and early voting–all of which created challenges for interacting with voters in real time on Election Day, as has been done in past elections. 

In the Georgia runoff elections, AALDEF volunteers polled more than 270 Asian Americans in Gwinnett, DeKalb, and Fulton counties.

Jerry Vattamala, AALDEF Democracy Program Director, said, “One issue we observed in the runoff elections was that hundreds of voters of color, including Asian American voters, were turned away and told they were at incorrect poll sites. This was particularly egregious where the site to which they were directed was closed. We will continue to work with election officials to investigate these serious voting problems.”

Of all of Georgia's AAPI voters surveyed:

• 29% were Korean, 23% were Asian Indian, 14% were Vietnamese, 13% were Chinese, 8% were Bangladeshi, 4% were Pakistani, and 8% were an Other Asian ethnicities and nationalities.

• 23% were native-born U.S. citizens and 77% were foreign-born naturalized citizens.

• 22% were first-time voters and 78% had voted in previous elections.

• 44% were registered Democrats, 24% were registered Republicans, 28% were independant voters, and 4% were enrolled in another party.

• 33% of all voters were limited English proficient (LEP) and 67% were English proficient.

• 53% were female and 47% were male.

Increased Support for Democratic Senate Candidates in Runoff Elections

Asian American support for Warnock and Ossoff this Jan. 5 appears to have increased from the support that given to the two challengers and Joe Biden received in the November 2020 Presidential election. 

In AALDEF’s Exit Poll in Georgia in November 2020:

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 62% to 36%.

• In the U.S. Senate races with identical candidates in November, Asian Americans voted for the Democratic candidates over the 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 of 61% to 36%.

AALDEF will release a more detailed analysis of its exit poll numbers soon, with specific data related to ethnicity, gender, age, language ability, and nativity, among other data points. Special thanks to all of our volunteers and community partners, particularly the Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS) in Atlanta, for their many years of service to the Asian American community.

Stephanie Cho, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s Atlanta chapter, told the Post that Asian Americans are the "new electorate." She believes the AAPI vote helped the campaigns of Ossof and Warnock in upsetting the Republican incumbents.

"Us, along with Black women voters, along with Latino voters, along with young people, really have changed the trajectory of what Georgia looks like," said Cho.

AALDEF exit poll: Asian Americans vote 2-to-1 for Biden

Correction: Nov. 5, 10:30 a.m. for headline fix

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.”

AALDEF

Volunteers conducted the exit poll in several Asian languages.

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.