Asian American voter numbers are growing, but they often don’t get the info they need

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing group of the nation’s eligible voters, a study shows. Six out of 10 Asians in the U.S. will be able to vote in November’s presidential election. Of those voters, 35 percent live in California.

Experts see the potential for the Asian American and Pacific Islander voter bloc to make an impact in November, but say more outreach is necessary.

The findings were published by the Pew Research Center last week, based on analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data and the 2000 U.S. Census.

The Asian electorate has more than doubled in the last two decades. There are more than 11 million eligible Asian American voters, making up 5 percent of the nation’s total.

Asians are also the only racial group with naturalized citizens, rather than U.S. born, taking up the two-thirds of voters within the group. Hmong Americans are the youngest group with a median age of 32. Japanese Americans are the oldest, with am average age of 59.

But the share of eligible Asian voters this year is still lower than their proportion of the total population of the U.S. by around 1 percent. The number is attributed to the 4.5 million adult immigrant Asians in the U.S. who are not citizens and do not have the rights to vote. Another 3.5 million Asians in the U.S. are under age 18.

Asian registered voters lean more Democratic than Republican, the study shows. But a 2018 survey by research organization AAPI Data found that party identification differs by origin groups: 46 percent of Vietnamese survey participants favor President Donald Trump, the highest percentage among all groups.

“Asian Americans have swung elections before,” said Christine Chen, executive director of APIAVote, a nonpartisan organization that mobilizes AAPI civic participation. She cited a Calfornia race involving Rep. Gil Cisneros, whose activation of AAPI voters via extensive outreach helped secure the Democrat’s margin of victory in Yorba Linda. In Nevada, where the AAPI population is the fastest growing in the state, Senate races flipped where regions depended on the AAPI vote, Chen added.

While there is a potential for the AAPI voter bloc to make a difference in the November presidential election, Chen said candidates need to reach out to the communities, especially those with low English proficiency.

APIAVote’s American Voter Survey in 2018 indicated that most Asian American voters reported very little outreach from either party. Chen said many community members responded well when there was outreach.

“Many of these folks want to vote, but don’t have the information they need to do so,” she said.

Several registered voters in Orange County speak better Vietnamese than English, Chen said, and often lacked information about either candidate’s platforms.

“Many eligible voters aren’t abstaining from the polls because they don’t care,” Chen said. “They’re not voting because of barriers like language access, low outreach from campaigns and a history of being ignored.”

More than half of the eligible voters live in three states: California, New York and Texas. Only in Hawaii do Asians account for a larger share of eligible voters as compared to other racial groups, making up 38 percent of the state’s eligible voters. California follows, at 14 percent.

English proficiency varies by origin group. Only 49 percent of Burmese American eligible voters indicated they speak English “very well,” contrasting to 91 percent of Japanese Americans.

Chen said trusted messengers are key to effective outreach toward the AAPI voter population. She reiterated the importance of hiring more AAPI staffers early in the campaign, in addition to bringing in the perspectives of community leaders via town hall meetings, and reaching out to ethnic press, so as to give voters “a seat at the table.”

“Building lasting relationships is key,” she said.