The Asian American vote by state...

[pbrower2a]

Arabs are not classified as Asians. Also, Obama getting 80% of the Muslim vote? Sure. 89% of the Arab vote? Hell no. For one, most Arab-Americans are Christians.

Also to add Filipino and Vietnamese-American's are one of the more conservative ethnic groups in the US. So no way Obama did very well amongst ether group or for that matter that McCain got less then 55% amongst the Vietnamese. Even the younger generations in both communties tend to be Republicans.

Filipino Americans have historically been very Democratic on the West Coast. They're the mainstay of the HI Democratic Party.

Everyone in Hawaii is the mainstay of the HI Democratic Party. Hawaii is probably the most heavily Democratic state in the United States, except for the possible exception of Massachusetts, and I'm not so sure about that.

Kerry only won the state by 9 points in 2004. Obama's margin of victory in 2008 was mainly a native son effect.

It certainly leans to the left but you can't really peg it as super Democratic. It kind of does its own thing out there in the ocean.

Hawaii went for Republicans only twice since it became a State -- only during the Nixon blowout in 1972 and the Reagan blowout of 1984. Rhode Island is much the same. Kerry was just an awful campaigner in 2004. The only way in which Hawaii otherwise goes Republican in a Presidential election is if the Democratic nominee shows himself a bigot to some Asian population group or the Republicans nominate someone from Hawaii.

Think of it as the inverse of a state like Indiana -- it says that it is flexible in its voting, but something has to cause it to break from its usual pattern.  

Filipinos are generally ultra-conservative in personal lives -- so they are insulated from the consequences of mass depravities and can be more liberal on other issues.

[pbrower2a]

Why are Vietnamese so right wing in the US? They tend to be NDP supporters here... and  by here, I mean in Ottawa.

Recent memories of the Communist takeover.  In general, Vietnamese Americans dislike both the Commie regime in Vietnam and the People's Republic of China.  Until China started rattling sabers late in 2013, China did fairly well with even Koreans on the argument that the PRC is a good place in which to do business. Korean-Americans of course despise the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- then again, who doesn't? Koreans would likely think a Chinese puppet state an improvement over the insane combination of an absolute monarchy and Communism both at their worst.

Are Vietnamese-Americans slow to assimilate into the political trends of other Asian-Americans?     

[pbrower2a]

Why are Vietnamese so right wing in the US? They tend to be NDP supporters here... and  by here, I mean in Ottawa.

Anti-communism. That used to win among Chinese-Americans and Korean-Americans... but China seems more a trade partner to most Asian-American groups than the old source of anti-capitalist extremism. Korean-Americans are still hostile to Communism... but only toward the Communism in North Korea. Truth be told, Korean-Americans would probably be delighted to find that the People's Liberation Army were liberating North Korea after the North Korean regime did something incredibly unwise.

Many Vietnamese-Americans have more recent and bitter memories of the Communist takeover of Vietnam and personal consequences.  Koreans who have personal memories of the Korean War, let alone Chinese who remember the Mao takeover, are now old.