# How important is the Asian vote **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 7, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744 "2016-06-07T15:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/1 "2016-06-07T15:44:16Z")
They voted for Obama more frequently than any racial group other than blacks and their vote swings more than any other racial group from election to election. But they only account for about 3% of the people who voted in the last presidential election and only about 55% of eligible Asian voters are registered to vote (that’s lower than the registration rate of 18-24 year olds. Only those without high school educations vote less than Asians. > **[Voting Turnout Statistics - Statistic Brain](https://www.statisticbrain.com/voting-statistics/)** > > 2016 Presidential Election Voter Statistics Data Data accurate as of 11.20.16 (7:00 am PST) Total number of early ballots cast 47,000,000 Total number of votes cast in the Hillary vs. ... Why are Asians so bad at voting. Are the incentives different for Asians than they are for larger minority groups? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/2 "2016-06-07T15:56:34Z")
Asians only make up 4.8% of the U.S. population. Only two states have a significant populatio: California (13%) and Hawaii(38%). A few others in the 5-8% range with the solid majority under 3%. From what I remember, a 3% voting block vs a 4.8% of the population is a better ratio than Hispanic voting. If I was going to make a WAG why they have lower registration rates I would say Asian immigrant communities tend to be a little more insular. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/3 "2016-06-07T17:01:34Z")
Ok I found the chart I was looking for, have posted it previously: [Voter turnout by race](http://www.electproject.org/_/rsrc/1437674226372/home/voter-turnout/demographics/CPS%20race.png) shows Whites and Blacks have the higher turnout, Hispanics and “Other” are virtually tied. (From [here](http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics)). So I would say your OP is working from a false premise. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/4 "2016-06-07T18:55:38Z")
According to\*\* CarnalK’s \*\*graph, roughly 40% of Asians of voting actually vote, so if that’s 40% of 4.8% of the population, that’s about 2% of the total population. In certain districts, this number may be much higher- for example see [the chart on this page for Asian districts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_majority_minority_United_States_congressional_districts). Overall, I’d say the Asian vote isn’t terribly important; it’s not enough districts in CA to swing anything, and Hawaii only has 4 electoral votes anyway. ---
**Author:** ![BallastPoint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@BallastPoint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BallastPoint)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/5 "2016-06-07T22:00:39Z")
This is my go-to source for these questions - shows Asians as 3.8% of eligible voters, 2.9% of actual voters - which works out to a 47.3% voter participation rate (US total rate is 61.8%. Why the gap I have no idea. PDF Warning: [https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-568.pdf](https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-568.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/6 "2016-06-09T17:01:30Z")
> **[2012 Turnout: Race, Ethnicity and the Youth Vote](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2012-turnout-race-ethnict_b_3240179)** > > The big news from the Current Population Survey will be that African-American turnout exceeded non-Hispanic white turnout. But I contend that really that happened first in 2008. The more important political story may be the dramatic decline in youth... So its not horrible compared to the Hispanic vote buts its low. Considering how close a lot of the swing states are, and considering that Asians seem to swing more than other demographics, I thought that Obama’s slight focus on the Asian vote was the start of something. But it seems to have withered on the vine. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/7 "2016-06-09T17:14:03Z")
What was Obama’s “slight focus on the Asian vote”? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-is-the-asian-vote/756744/8 "2016-06-09T21:04:04Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Asians only make up 4.8% of the U.S. population. Only two states have a significant populatio: California (13%) and Hawaii(38%). A few others in the 5-8% range with the solid majority under 3%. From what I remember, a 3% voting block vs a 4.8% of the population is a better ratio than Hispanic voting. > > If I was going to make a WAG why they have lower registration rates I would say Asian immigrant communities tend to be a little more insular. And HI and CA are reliably Democratic already, so that doesn’t make much difference. Although with HI, it might be a chicken and egg thing. It might be reliably Democratic because the Asian population is so large…