New Survey Reveals Influential Demographic in Upcoming Election

As the nation prepares for the presidential election in a few weeks, a historically contentious campaign cycle is about to come to a close. For months, Americans have watched both of the main party presidential candidates trade insults and question each other’s integrity, while at times giving little attention to the issues affecting the country. When the presidential ballots are cast on November 8, 2016, the nation will make a decision that potentially could affect many future generations to come. And one growing and influential sector of the U.S. population that will be weighing in are AsianAmericans and Pacific Islanders.

A recent report released by the National Asian American Survey, a scientific and nonpartisan organization that aims to poll the opinions of AsianAmericans and Pacific Islanders, or AAPIs, reveals how this segment of the population may impact the outcome of the upcoming election. AAPIs are defined as people of Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Hmong, and Cambodian ethnicity, and they make up a significant portion of the immigrant and first generation demographic. AAPIs are also the fastest growing population in the nation, with an increase of 1.2 million each election cycle since the year 2000.

The National AsianAmerican Survey report underscored several key findings as to how AAPIs view politics. Since 2012, the majority of the AAPI demographic has viewed the Democratic Party more favorably than the Republican Party. This translates to a significant preference for this year’s Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton over Republican candidate Donald Trump. More than 70 percent of the AAPIs voting this November will be casting their ballot for Clinton, while only 20 percent are forecasted to choose Trump. [See Asian American Voices in the 2016 Election, by Karthick Ramakrishnan, Janelle Wong, Taeku Lee, and Jennifer Lee, Naasurvey.com, 05.Oct.2016.]

The tendency for the AAPI demographic to vote Democratic speaks to their views on the most important issues currently facing the country. They hold particularly progressive views on health care, education spending, racial justice, and immigration reform, but tend to lean slightly more conservative on topics such as the Syrian refugee crisis and legalization of marijuana. And, like most other Americans, AAPIs are most concerned about the economy, our national security, and ending systemic racism.

While every American’s vote counts equally in the upcoming election, it would be prudent of both presidential candidates to consider where an influential demographic like AAPIs stand on the current issues facing our nation. The wellbeing of many future generations is at stake, and both candidates need to focus on making our nation stronger, as opposed to tearing each other down.

 

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