Preliminary results from a post-election survey of Asian American voters released Wednesday

Preliminary results from a post-election survey of Asian American voters released Wednesday illustrate the growing power of the Asian American electorate and why Asian Americans voted for President Barack Obama in such huge numbers.

The report, based on a survey of nearly 2,800 Asian Americans nationwide, found that 71 percent voted for President Barack Obama. That number is slightly below the 73 percent support that New York Times exit polls found for Obama.

Romney, the newly released survey found, received 28 percent of Asian Americans’ votes.

The report is preliminary. A full report based on 7,000 interviews is scheduled for release in early 2013.

The survey found that the economy, health care and education were the top issues for Asian-American voters.

Despite the overwhelming support Obama enjoys among Asian-Americans, the report found that the Democrats hardly have a lock on the Asian American electorate. Nearly half of Asian American registered voters don’t identify with either the Democrats or the Republicans.

Asian American voters now comprise 2.8 percent of the U.S. electorate, up from 1.6 percent in 1996, the report found.

The Asian American population is growing rapidly, nationwide and in the Inland area.

The number of Asian Americans in the Inland Empire more than tripled between 1990 and 2011, to more than 262,000, according to U.S. Census data. People of Asian ancestry now comprise 6 percent of the Inland area’s population, up from 3 percent in 1990. Nearly 15 percent of residents statewide are Asian American.

The report was put together by the Asian American Justice Center, the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice and the National Asian American Survey. The Asian American Survey is directed by Karthick Ramakrishnan, an associate professor of political science at UC Riverside.

http://blog.pe.com/multicultural-beat/2012/12/13/asian-americans-increasing-political-power/