Asia-American and Pacific Islander Elections, Asian-American and Pacific Islanders, and Asia-American Justice Promotion on 15/9 announced the survey results of the US presidential election next November with 1,569 Asian American voters.
The survey was conducted from July 4 to September 10, in English, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, with people of Chinese, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Filipino origin.
The results showed that Asians are very excited about the next November vote and 54% of them say they are much more excited this time than in the previous elections. 54% of Asian Americans polled plan to vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, while only 30% support incumbent President Donald Trump.
Biden is preferred in all groups, except for Vietnamese descent. Among Vietnamese voters registered to vote, the support rate for Trump is 48%, while for Biden is 36%. Indians are the Biden most inclined group, with 65% favoring the Democratic candidate.
14% of the voters of Asian descent, mostly of Chinese descent, have not yet decided who to vote for.
The majority of voters of Asian descent also said they would support the Democratic candidate in the US Senate and House of Representatives races. Once again, however, the Vietnamese group fell out of this trend with a higher rate of support for the Republican candidates. They are the only Asian group in the survey that is inclined to Republicans with 38% compared to Democrats with 23%, 34% who identify themselves as nonpartisan.
Asians are the fastest growing ethnic group in the US and are the group of voters that took a record in the midterm elections in 2018. They form an important bloc in many battlefield states, including Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. They have the ability to influence parliamentary races in Southern California, Texas and New Jersey, among other states.
Asians tend to progress, support undocumented immigrants to become American citizens, advocate for environmental protection, gun control, and act assertive. They believe Democrats handle most matters better than Republicans, with the exception of taxes, jobs and economics.
Although excited about the next November election, Asian Americans also expressed concerns about the possibility of interfering with the vote results. In addition, nearly half were concerned about health and safety when voting directly at the midpoint of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of them are inclined to vote by mail or by absentee voting.
However, the parties have not really exploited the full strength of this potential group of voters. The survey found that about half of those polled were never affiliated with any party. With a large proportion of unregistered voters, reaching this group of Asians will be crucial.