New analysis of Asian American voters reveals they skew younger, lean Democratic
Over 13.3 million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote in November’s midterm elections, making up 5.5% of all eligible voters, according to new projections by the Pew Research Center.
The estimate comes as Asian Americans continue to be the fastest-growing group of eligible voters in the past two decades, consistent with overall population trends. However, the group’s voter growth has been relatively steady since 2018, with only about a million voters added. Additionally, not all who are eligible to vote are registered to vote.
The nonpartisan fact tank’s latest analysis examined the demographics and geographic distribution of Asian Americans who were eligible to vote in 2020. Population projections for the midterms extrapolated 2020 data from the American Community Survey (IPUMS) with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2021 estimates for July 2020 and November 2022.
As of 2020, a slight majority (56%) of Asian American eligible voters live in just five states, Pew noted. These include California — which has the highest concentration at 4.2 million — New York (1.1 million), Texas (930,000), Hawaii (565,000) and New Jersey (505,000).
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Hawaii happens to be the only state where Asian Americans compose the majority (55%) of all eligible voters. Within its Asian American population, Hawaii also has the highest share of eligible voters (seven-in-10).
The analysis also showed that 57% of Asian American eligible voters are naturalized U.S. citizens. As a whole, Asian American eligible voters are also more likely to have an undergraduate degree and a postgraduate degree than the rest of the eligible voter population.
Eligible Asian American voters also tend to be younger, with 44 years old as the average, compared to 48 in the general eligible voter population. Those aged 30 to 49 make up more than a third (36%) of the Asian American eligible voter population, compared to 32% of the total.
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As for partisanship, Pew reported that Asian Americans “typically lean Democratic.” An August 2022 survey conducted by the fact tank found that 57% of registered Asian American voters would likely back a Democratic candidate in their congressional district race, compared to 26% expressing support for a Republican candidate.
While the number of eligible Asian American voters has grown to a record high, turnout rates tell a different story. Pew said Asian voters “typically trailed those of some other groups” but kept up with the Hispanic rate during midterm elections.
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