(Good news from BOR reader Eugenia Beh about a landmark poll of Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders. GOTAAPIV! - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! What better way to kick off the month than by sharing the results of a new AAPI voter poll from the Asian American Justice Center and APIAVote?
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters are still largely untapped by presidential candidates and their parties even though they are expected to vote in record numbers this fall, according to a major new poll conducted by Lake Research Partners. The first-ever poll of AAPI voter attitudes shows that close elections in important states like Florida, Nevada and Virginia could go to the candidates who best engage AAPIs, a demographic with increasing political clout.
The poll marks the first time voting trends among the nation's fastest growing racial group - how they will vote this year and their views on a range of issues - have been examined. The effort surveyed more than 1,100 AAPI voters across the country last month and was released today by the Asian American Justice Center and APIAVote to bring attention to this crucial voting bloc at the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
The good news is that AAPIs identified overwhelmingly as Democrats in the poll, with almost 3/4 of respondents favoring President Obama over Mitt Romney. Plus nearly five out of six of those surveyed said that they will vote this November and half of them are more enthusiastic than ever to vote, a trend that has continued from the last few presidential elections. So go team! But then there's the not-so-great news:
[L]ess than a third were contacted by the Democratic Party in the last two years, while 37 percent of Republicans said they heard a great deal from their party over the same period.
Granted, Republicans haven't exactly been helping their cause by having people like Pete Hoekstra and our very own David Dewhurst run racist ads that attack Asians. But why should we just wait around for Republicans to alienate Asian American voters the way they have Latino voters? In swing states such as Florida, Nevada and Virginia, the Asian American vote can be decisive, especially if AAPI voters turn out at the same levels as they did in 2008.
Of course, the President isn't resting on his laurels with the AAPI community. This week, the campaign launched AAPIs for Obama with a conference call on Tuesday, May 1st, with the president's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng and her husband, Konrad Ng, and Mario Salazar, State Operation Vote Director for OFA-Nevada. The campaign also launched a new line of AAPIs for Obama merchandise, which yours truly has already ordered.
So what are we waiting for, Texas Dems? Did you know that Texas has the third largest Asian American population in the nation (behind only California and New York) and that we happen to have a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian American & Pacific Islanders in our midst? Let's GOTAAPIV!
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