Asian-American Voters Choose Obama
Exit Poll Reveals Asian-Americans Had a Say in National Elections
Dec 17, 2008 Christopher Wilson
In a poll conducted by Rutgers University and the Eagleton Institute just prior to the 2008 elections, Asian Americans were shown to be inclined toward the Illinois senator. This was especially the case in the states of New York and New Jersey, with Obama leading McCain 42 to 20 percent in the former and by 37 to 18 in the latter.
The poll, which involved pollsters sampling 4,000 Asian Americans between August 18th and September 26th 2008, was largely encouraging for the Obama camp, but turned up a number of interesting results that might have proved significant for both rival camps in the final reckoning. The most revealing result of the poll was that half of the Asian American population was politically unaligned, claiming affinity to neither of the two main political parties. It was no surprise, then, that 34 percent the Asian-American electorate at the time claimed not to have decided for whom they would cast their vote come election day.
Asian-Americans: The Ultimate Swing Vote
Professor Jane Junn of the Rutgers Institute suggested that though the poll's results were shown to lean toward Obama, at the time when it was conducted the McCain camp still had everything to play for among the demographic because the Asian American population fell very much within the "swing-voter" bracket, a demographic that is always key in certain states: “The large number of undecided voters and their low levels of party identification signal a big opportunity for parties and candidates looking for electoral support,” she said. Indeed, Professor June discerned in the results an encouraging trend for the Arizona senator: 15 percent of Hilary Clinton’s voters had switched their allegiances to McCain since the New York senator had stepped out of the race.
Asian-Americans Cite The Economy As Most Important Issue
Professor Junn’s findings also suggested that the one sure way both candidates could woo the Asian American vote was to address its principal concern – the economy. The 74 percent of New Jersey Asian Americans and the 62 percent of their New York neighbours who claimed the country’s economic situation was their main concern reflected the sentiments of the wider Asian American population.
Largest Ever Poll Of Asian-American Electorate
The poll was the most pervasive of its kind, employing the resources of not just the two principle institutes, but also pollsters from the University of California Riverside, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Junn believes that the surveyed were more inclined to participate in the poll and more discursive when questioned because the questionnaires were performed in a number of Asian languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Votes Finally Swayed By The Obama Message of "Change"
In the final reckoning, Obama clinched the Asian-American vote with his message of change and his percieved understanding of the nature of the world economic crisis. On election day, he went on to capitalise on the promising statistics revealed by the poll and amassed a considerable sixty-two percent of the seven million Asian votes up for grabs. McCain could only muster 35 percent.
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