Survey Results Show Asian American Presidential Preferences
October 20, 2008
Poll finds heavy support for Obama
Recent polls of the Asian American population about this year’s presidential race indicate both strong support for Sen. Barack Obama and the existence of a large proportion of undecided voters.
The National Asian American Survey, a collaboration by researchers from Rutgers University, the University of California and the University of Southern California, found that 41 percent of Asian Americans favor Obama, compared to 24 percent who support Sen. John McCain.
The study, conducted from August to September with results released earlier this month, also concluded that Obama’s lead is even greater in traditional swing states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, where 43 percent of Asian Americans indicate support, compared to McCain’s 22 percent.
“Candidates will see that Asian Americans will play a pivotal role, especially in battleground states,” said Taeku Lee, associate professor of political science at UC Berkeley and a National Asian American Survey researcher. “[Partisan campaigners] will decide to shift their energies and resources to woo Asian American voters.”
Other surveys have similarly shown Asian American voters leaning heavily towards Obama. A recent poll of a random sample of Asian American registered voters conducted by the 80-20 Initiative, a nonpartisan Asian American political action committee, found that 77 percent support Obama and 23 percent back McCain. An online poll conducted by AsianWeek in early October showed Obama leading by approximately 66 percent to Senator McCain’s 32 percent.
Still undecided voters also constituted a relatively high percentage in the National Asian American Survey: 34 percent compared to 8 percent in the general population.
“With such a high proportion of undecided voters, Asian Americans are a critical source of potential votes for either candidate in the final weeks of the campaign,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, an associate professor of political science at UC Riverside.
Many hope that these results will spur interest in the Asian American voters.
“In the past, the size of the Asian American population, especially the voting population, was deemed too small and too insignificant to warrant national attention,” said L. Ling-chi Wang, an emeritus professor in UC Berkeley’s Asian American studies department, in a recent interview with The Daily Californian.
The new national survey is considered the most comprehensive and accurate Asian American political survey to date, conducted in 8 different languages and drawing data from over 4,000 participants.
Data from the survey also revealed substantial differences between Asian American ethnic groups: Two-thirds of Vietnamese Americans support Sen. McCain, whereas Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans and Indian Americans support Sen. Obama by more than a 3-1 ratio.
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