How do Portuguese Americans vote?

[Mike88]

As a portuguese, i'm pretty sure they vote heavily Democratic. That's at least the impression we have here.

[Mike88]

An interesting report about how 5 Portuguese American voters view both sides.

http://observador.pt/especiais/o-que-pensa-o-donald-trump-portugues-e-outros-quatro-emigrantes-das-eleicoes/

[Mike88]

An interesting report about how 5 Portuguese American voters view both sides.

http://observador.pt/especiais/o-que-pensa-o-donald-trump-portugues-e-outros-quatro-emigrantes-das-eleicoes/

I only translated the first one, and he is quite typical of persons born in Portugal. They are overwhelmingly concentrated in New Bedford and Fall River. It is a quite atypical pattern compared to other countries, particularly European, which almost invariably have a primary concentration in New York City.

Also about half of those who report they were born in Portugal reported that they were born in the Azores. In the US Census, place of birth is a write-in, and there are codes for many internal areas, which the Census Bureau can tabulate various ways. So it is likely that the person responded "Azores" rather than "Portugal - Azores" or was prompted by a census taker, who followed up with a question of 'Would that be from the Azores, or on the mainland?'

There is a strong difference between New Bedford and Fall River in this regard, with New Bedford respondents to be more likely to report Azores, though the two cities have about the same number of Portuguese and the same total population.

My understanding is that a great number of Azoreans come to the US via the mainland. Perhaps they migrate to Lisbon, and don't feel at home, and so emigrate.

So maybe the questions should actually be: "How do Azoreans in southeastern Massachusetts vote?"

There is a much smaller concentration of Portuguese Americans in the Central Valley of California. They might be more Republican because of their political success.

Yes, the vast majority of Portuguese Americans have origins from the Azores but there are also some that came from Madeira and even mainland Portugal but in a much smaller scale.

The Portuguese american community in California is not that small. In fact, according to US 2010 Census more than 331,000 people claimed they are from portuguese descendent.
In terms of politics, it's not clear how the community in California votes, but the 2 only portuguese american congressmen are both Republicans.

This article from Público newspaper describes the California community:
https://www.publico.pt/mundo/noticia/a-festa-dos-portugueses-na-california-1728156

[Mike88]

Huge swing for Trump in the Portuguese Community in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. On the other hand, the Portuguese community in California appears to swing heavily for Hillary.

Fall River
2012: Obama 73.55%, Romney 24.84%, Johnson 1.01% = D+ 48.71
2016: Clinton 58.6%, Trump 36.6%, Johnson 3.2% = D+ 22.0

New Bedford
2012: Obama 75.65%, Romney 22.62%, Johnson 0.96% = D+ 53.03
2016: Clinton 63.6%, Trump 31.6%, Johnson 2.9% = D+ 32.0

Taunton
2012: Obama 59.58%, Romney 38.62%, Johnson 1.21% = D+ 20.96
2016: Clinton 51.9%, Trump 42.2%, Johnson 4.4% = D+ 9.7

East Providence
2012: Obama 69.6%, Romney 28.4%, Johnson 1.0% = D+ 41.2
2016: Clinton 59.6%, Trump 35.7%, Johnson 3.2% = D+ 23.9

Bristol
2012: Obama 61.9%, Romney 36.1%, Johnson 1.0% = D+ 25.8
2016: Clinton 55.4%, Trump 39.1%, Johnson 4.1% = D+ 16.3

Santa Clara County, California - Home to "Little Portugal"
2012: Obama 70.0%, Romney 27.1%, Johnson 0.9% = D+ 42.9
2016: Clinton 73.4%, Trump 21.0%, Johnson 3.6% = D+ 52.4

Alameda County, California
2012: Obama 78.7%, Romney 18.1%, Johnson 1.1% = D+ 60.6
2016: Clinton 79.5%, Trump 15.1%, Johnson 2.5% = D+ 64.4