Asian Vote by State

[Jaggerjack]

How did Asian-Americans vote depending on states (e.g. how did Californian Asians, Texan Asians, etc.) vote?

[angus]

They didn't, largely.  Asians, like latinos, are much less likely to register to vote in the USA than either anglo white or anglo black folks.  But their input is on the rise.  I have read that the number of votes cast by non-hispanic white people in 2004 compared to 2000 was something like 4% higher, wereas the increase among Asians was like 22%, and nearly 20% among hispanics.

The big difference isn't by state, buy by group.  In 2000 for example, chinese went heavily for Gore, something like 4-to-1, while Indians were split, showing a slight preferrece for Bush.

But there is state-by-state data if you want to dig.  Start here:  http://www.asiansvote.com/

Mostly you get it in bits and pieces, such as "...a Los Angeles Times poll of 3357 California voters found that 64 percent of Asian Americans voted for Kerry and 34 percent for Bush."  Or, "Bush carried about 44% of all Asian voters in Texas."  I haven't stumbled across an exhaustive table like this yet, and I have done a little searching in the past for one.  I'll post if I turn up anything comprehensive.

ping the poster formerly known as Realpolitik sometime.  He's a walking encyclopedia of political and demographic information it seems.

[Alcon]

You can look at the 2004 CNN exit polls.  They're not sacrosanct, but in states with sufficient number of asian voters, they aren't bad.  They generally lean Democratic, although it obviously varies with the state (and type of population - Mexican-Americans obviously vote different than Cuban-Americans).

[Cubby]

The otherwise faulty book The Emerging Democratic Majority (2002) had a great chapter on Asian voters. It said that Chinese and Vietnamese-Americans used to vote heavily Republican because they were more anti-communist (same reason that Cubans did). Ever since 1992 though, all Asian groups seem to moving towards the Democrats.

while Indians were split, showing a slight preferrece for Bush.

Thats interesting, do you know why?

[Jaggerjack]

The otherwise faulty book The Emerging Democratic Majority (2002) had a great chapter on Asian voters. It said that Chinese and Vietnamese-Americans used to vote heavily Republican because they were more anti-communist (same reason that Cubans did). Ever since 1992 though, all Asian groups seem to moving towards the Democrats.

while Indians were split, showing a slight preferrece for Bush.

Thats interesting, do you know why?

I have no clue where everyone's getting that Indians voted for Bush. They went strongly for Kerry in 2004.

[phk]

Chinese-Americans = Lean Democrat, historically lean Republican.
Filipino-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Japanese-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Korean-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Indian-Americans = Split now becoming more Democratic.
Pakistani-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Democratic
Vietnamese-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Lean Republican
Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Indian-Americans are quite wealthy usually, I'm not surprised they would be Republicans.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Are they? Interesting. Most Indians here are working class.

[Bacon King]

Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Really? I've got several Hmong friends, and their families are usually pretty Republican.

[Jaggerjack]

Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Really? I've got several Hmong friends, and their families are usually pretty Republican.

I remember reading from some exit poll that in 2004, Hmongs voted 90% Democratic, and Indians weren't very far behind.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Are they? Interesting. Most Indians here are working class.

Something like 1 out of 13 of Indian-Americans is a millionaire. You might have a different pattern of immigration due to colonialism.

[phk]

Are they? Interesting. Most Indians here are working class.

I thought British Indians were middle to upper middle class and the Pakistanis/Bangladeshis were the working class ones...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Are they? Interesting. Most Indians here are working class.

I thought British Indians were middle to upper middle class and the Pakistanis/Bangladeshis were the working class ones...

No, it's more that all (or close to all) Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are working class. There is a large Indian (Hindu to be more accurate) middle class in parts of London (and in West Brum) though. Indians in Leicester are as working class as Pakistanis in Bradford or Birmingham.

[Kevin]

Where I live here in the United States most of the Indians are quite wealthy and also very well educated and vey hard working. Also they tend to be very well integrated into American soicety. So I'm quite shocked at someone saying the vast majority of them vote Democratic. I mean I'm sure the majority of them vote Democratic but I'm shocked they are not trending Republican.   

[Jaggerjack]

http://www.aaldef.org/images/04-20-05_exit_poll_report.pdf

[Kevin]

Chinese-Americans = Lean Democrat, historically lean Republican.
Filipino-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Japanese-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Korean-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Indian-Americans = Split now becoming more Democratic.
Pakistani-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Democratic
Vietnamese-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Lean Republican
Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Also with Korean Americans I'm also a little surprised that they lean towards the Democrats since many Koreans in America are small businessmen or are in business fields of some form or another. Also I've noticed that Koreans tend to have a strong family oriented and religious tradition so I'm kind puzzled?      

[phk]

Chinese-Americans = Lean Democrat, historically lean Republican.
Filipino-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Japanese-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Korean-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Indian-Americans = Split now becoming more Democratic.
Pakistani-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Democratic
Vietnamese-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Lean Republican
Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Also with Korean Americans I'm also a little surprised that they lean towards the Democrats since many Koreans in America are small businessmen or are in business fields of some form or another. Also I've noticed that Koreans tend to have a strong family oriented and religious tradition so I'm kind puzzled?     

The Koreans of Fresno County are split, but from anecdotal evidence and what my Korean friends in Los Angeles have said that they are mostly Democrats with a few voting Republican for foreign policy concerns.

Naturally I would expect Buddhists and the irreligious to vote more Democratic, with the Christians leaning towards the GOP.

[Jaggerjack]

Chinese-Americans = Lean Democrat, historically lean Republican.
Filipino-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Japanese-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Korean-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Indian-Americans = Split now becoming more Democratic.
Pakistani-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Democratic
Vietnamese-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Lean Republican
Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Also with Korean Americans I'm also a little surprised that they lean towards the Democrats since many Koreans in America are small businessmen or are in business fields of some form or another. Also I've noticed that Koreans tend to have a strong family oriented and religious tradition so I'm kind puzzled?     

The Koreans of Fresno County are split, but from anecdotal evidence and what my Korean friends in Los Angeles have said that they are mostly Democrats with a few voting Republican for foreign policy concerns.

Naturally I would expect Buddhists to vote more Democratic.

Well, I would expect that Asian-Americans tend to reflect their surrounding demographics; thus, in the Central Valley, they're probably more conservative than their liberal Bay Area counterparts.

BTW, has anybody read the exit poll I posted?

[Kevin]

Chinese-Americans = Lean Democrat, historically lean Republican.
Filipino-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Japanese-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Korean-Americans = Strong Lean Democrat
Indian-Americans = Split now becoming more Democratic.
Pakistani-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Democratic
Vietnamese-Americans = Strong Republican becoming Strong Lean Republican
Hmong-Americans = Strong Democrat

Also with Korean Americans I'm also a little surprised that they lean towards the Democrats since many Koreans in America are small businessmen or are in business fields of some form or another. Also I've noticed that Koreans tend to have a strong family oriented and religious tradition so I'm kind puzzled?     

The Koreans of Fresno County are split, but from anecdotal evidence and what my Korean friends in Los Angeles have said that they are mostly Democrats with a few voting Republican for foreign policy concerns.

Naturally I would expect Buddhists and the irreligious to vote more Democratic, with the Christians leaning towards the GOP.

I used to live in Fairfax which has a large Korean population and overall I would say they were split and it depending on the age or religious observence of the Korean-American you would met.   

[ottermax]

The bad thing about the poll is that it took place in the Northeast and Midwest. The largest Asian populations are in California, and Asians form a very important voting bloc in Hawaii. I have a feeling that the poll numbers would be slightly different if it included more of the West or other large Asian populations like Houston. Orange County definitely has a large Asian population which is not the most liberal. It also lacks Japanese as a group probably because most Japanese-Americans live on the West Coast.

[Verily]

Are they? Interesting. Most Indians here are working class.

I thought British Indians were middle to upper middle class and the Pakistanis/Bangladeshis were the working class ones...

No, it's more that all (or close to all) Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are working class. There is a large Indian (Hindu to be more accurate) middle class in parts of London (and in West Brum) though. Indians in Leicester are as working class as Pakistanis in Bradford or Birmingham.

Perhaps part of it is that Americans tend to distinguish between Hindu/Sikh/Jain Indians and Muslim Indians. An easy majority of non-Muslim Indians in the US are upper class or at least at the high end of middle class. Most are doctors, lawyers, computer engineers, or other high-paying non-financial jobs as only those Indians can typically afford to immigrate to the US.

I think BRTD has it right that colonial patterns make it much easier for Indians to immigrate to Britain, thus meaning that Indians in Britain are less wealthy overall than Indians in the US. This is exacerbated by the fact that most Indian families in the US are still first-generation, but Britain has plenty of second- and third-generation Indian immigrants.

[phk]

Where I live here in the United States most of the Indians are quite wealthy and also very well educated and vey hard working. Also they tend to be very well integrated into American soicety. So I'm quite shocked at someone saying the vast majority of them vote Democratic. I mean I'm sure the majority of them vote Democratic but I'm shocked they are not trending Republican.   

I know many Indians that are registered as Republicans here in Fresno, but they end up voting Democrat as of 2004.

[Kevin]

Where I live here in the United States most of the Indians are quite wealthy and also very well educated and vey hard working. Also they tend to be very well integrated into American soicety. So I'm quite shocked at someone saying the vast majority of them vote Democratic. I mean I'm sure the majority of them vote Democratic but I'm shocked they are not trending Republican.   

I know many Indians that are registered as Republicans here in Fresno, but they end up voting Democrat as of 2004.

Why? Could it have been the backlash that hit Indian-Americans after 9/11 dispite the fact that most of them aren't Muslim.

[Governor PiT]

Where I live here in the United States most of the Indians are quite wealthy and also very well educated and vey hard working. Also they tend to be very well integrated into American soicety. So I'm quite shocked at someone saying the vast majority of them vote Democratic. I mean I'm sure the majority of them vote Democratic but I'm shocked they are not trending Republican.   

I know many Indians that are registered as Republicans here in Fresno, but they end up voting Democrat as of 2004.

Why? Could it have been the backlash that hit Indian-Americans after 9/11 dispite the fact that most of them aren't Muslim.

sounds like good voters for Ron Paul.

how do Arabs and Persians tend to vote?

[Beet]

Most Indian-Americans I know are Democrats. Indian-Americans also give a lot more money to Democrats. Who knows what will happen when Bobby Jindal is elected in Louisiana? I suppose it won't make much difference as it doesn't change the big issues, plus Jindal is a Catholic. But there are theories in political science that say that minority ethnic groups tend to go over to which ever party one of their own is first elected to high office from; based on studies of Connecticut politics and Irish and Italian immigrants in the first half of the 20th century. It would be interesting to see if Jindal turns around Louisiana. I can see him running for President in 2012 or 2016 if he does.