Asian-American Voters a Force in November Election

A new survey suggests Asian Americans could play a more important role in this fall’s presidential election.

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In 1965 Asian Americans were less than 1 percent of the national population. That year, racially discriminatory immigration laws were changed.

By 2011 Asian Americans reached 5.8 percent of the U.S. population and the numbers continue to grow rapidly.

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The 2012 National Asian-American Survey finds that the majority of Asian Americans who are likely to vote in November favor Barack Obama, but about 32 percent of those potential voters were still undecided after the party conventions, and they could affect the outcome in some contested states.

The report is the work of professors at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of California, Berkeley. It’s based on more than 3,300 interviews focused on several key issues.

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Forty-nine percent of Asian Americans support the Affordable Care Act. A majority, 78 percent of Asian Americans, support Affirmative Action.

The report said an estimated 1 million undocumented Asian Americans live in the United States. The surveyed citizens support a path to citizenship (58 percent), but were less supportive of allowing undocumented residents to pay in-state tuition (47 percent) or get driver’s licenses (47 percent).

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{snip} The detailed results are available online at naasurvey.com.

Indian Americans strongly support President Obama (68 percent) while Mitt Romney didn’t get majority support from any group, but is favored by 39 percent of Samoans and 38 percent of Filipinos.

The overall Asian-American split among likely voters favored President Obama 43 percent to 24 percent for Romney.

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