October 6, 2008
Asian-American Vote Could Tip the Balance, Researchers Say
Asian-American voters could give Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, victories in some key battleground states, according to a study by researchers from Rutgers University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Riverside, and the University of Southern California.
Political scientists with expertise in ethnic politics analyzed the political preferences of some 4,000 Asian-American people, finding that Mr. Obama led the Republican nominee, John McCain, by 41 percent to 23 percent nationally. In battleground states, Mr. Obama was favored by 43 percent of Asian Americans, compared to 22 percent who favored Mr. McCain.
However, 34 percent of those polled were still undecided, and their numbers could make a difference in states such as Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, where Asian-American residents make up more than 5 percent of the population, researchers concluded.
The National Asian American Survey was conducted in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese in order to try to best record the responses of a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual minority group that accounts for 5 percent of the U.S. population. Only the Latino population is growing at a faster rate in the United States.
The survey found differences among subsets of Asian-American respondents. Among those who said they have made up their minds on a candidate, two-thirds of Vietnamese Americans said they support Mr. McCain, while Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, and Indian Americans support Mr. Obama by more than a three-to-one ratio, the pollsters found. Korean and Filipino Americans also support Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain, but very narrowly, by ratios of less than 1.4 to 1.
Eric Kelderman | Posted on Monday October 6, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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It would be interesting to see what last night’s Fox News report on Obama’s radical connections, and his refusal to release any of his records from his Harvard years, has on the Asian, or any other segment’s vote.
— Sylvia Oct 6, 02:40 PM #
Sylvia,
Asians are way too intelligent to watch Fox news! They all know how to read :)
— Lee C Oct 6, 03:23 PM #
Obama has been so scrutinised that if there was any dirt in his past life, it would definitely be in the public domain by now. The immediate former Bush white house spokesman said that they used to give FOX leaks on the news before it hit the press. It was FOX who called Obama Osama. It will indeed be interesting to see any new trick by FOX that can hurt Obama, whether among Asian-Americans, or any other Americans.
— texan cowboi Oct 6, 03:28 PM #
As an Asian-American, I can say that I note all news and it is apparent that the news leans toward the left unless you happen to put it on FOX news channel. Everyone ought to look at the whole picture and decide … if this means character and judgement with friends and dinner parties, so be it. Our Asian -American family will lean to the right and we always have.
— Jan Oct 6, 04:25 PM #
Lee, your comments that smear Asians that choose to watch FOX news suggest that it is you who have an intelligence deficit.
I watch both FOX and MSNBC, one of which is skewed to the right and the other to the left. I find that this enables me to ferret out the truth somewhere in the middle.
It is a common characteristic of narrow-minded, unintelligent people to only consider one (biased) source of information to form the basis for decision making.
I would suggest that one needs to consider all points of view before making informed decisions.
— DB Oct 9, 10:32 AM #
You guys and gals, you’re all missing the point. Watch BBC or TV5 if you really want an unbiased view on the US election. All Asians understand the British accent and the French language from our high school class n’est ce pas?
— mtlyorel Oct 28, 01:31 PM #