A Growing Voting Bloc and Influence
The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) electorate is a growing voting bloc of more than 11 million eligible voters. We are a growing influence in future elections. The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) electorate played a decisive role in the 2020 United States presidential election.
We cast more votes and our turnout surged from 2016 more than any other racial group in every battleground state in the 2020 election. Almost 60% (7.6 million) of the Asian American voting population turned out. In battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the number of Asian Americans who cast their ballot in 2020 exceeded the presidential margin of victory.
We continued to turn out to vote in the 2022-midterms and are narrowing the Asian-White turnout gap. Yet, we still need more of us to vote as we continue to lag in voter turnout (60% for Asians vs. 71% for Whites).
Our Asian Vote
National
AAPI Voters by State: 2022 fact sheets & report by each State at Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages and promotes civic participation of API Americans.
2022 Asian American Voter Survey (what party we belong to, what policies and issues we care about) by APIVote, AAPI Data and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC)
Infographics of the 2022 Asian American Voter Survey at AAPI Data
Infographics of the 3 Branches of the U.S. Federal Government
Asian Americans and the anti-racist equity agenda: Contradictions and common ground, part of a 2022 published perspectives and resources on race, ethnicity, and the economy by The Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Representation
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Congress past and present
Diversity of the 118th Congress (Pew Research Research)
List of past or present U.S. Governors of Asian descent and U.S. Mayors of Asian descent
#advanceAAPIpower: Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Political Leadership, published in May 2021 by The Reflective Democracy Campaign. Despite AAPI extreme under-representation, data show AAPI elected officials are highly electable.
A Portrait of Asian Americans in Law 2.0, published in Feb 2023 by the American Bar Foundation and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0 is a deeper exploration of Asian Americans in the legal community.
Regional and State
California statewide survey of registered voters, the 2023 Berkeley IGS Poll by UC Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies.
What do Asian American Voters in California Want? A 2022 online survey conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in partnership and YouGov.
Connecting to Power: The Growing Impact of New York City’s Asian Voters. A 2022 report by the Asian American Federation on Asian American civic engagement in NYC.
2022 Texas AAPI Voter Research by Asian Texans for Justice
Asian Indian
How Will Indian Americans Vote? Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey. This study is part of a series (Social Realities of Indian Americans, How Do Indian Americans View India?) on the social, political, and foreign policy attitudes of Indian Americans by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and YouGov.
Indian American Impact, a national non-profit that engages the South Asian vote and works to build political power for South Asian communities.
Chinese
The State of Chinese Americans 2022: The health, economic, and sociopolitical conditions of today’s Chinese American population by Columbia University’s School of Social Work and Committee of 100, a non-profit membership organization of prominent Chinese Americans.
Korean
The National Korean American Community – Promises, Perils, and Paradoxes: A 2020 published research on the state of the national Korean American community by The Council of Korean Americans and UC Berkeley.