A question about poll demographics.

[white_wolf]

I read a lot of polls for my job and I've noticed something that I want to get DU's take on. Most polls seem to break down the minority communities into "African-American/Black" or "Latino/Hispanic" categories, but I've never seen a poll, state or national, specifically mention Asian-American voters. I was just curious if anyone had an explanation as to why. The only two I can think of is that Asian-Americans are less likely to vote as a bloc or they're simply aren't enough of them.

[One Black Sheep]

1. I would guess your explanation is the correct one, not enough of them.

I just looked at a census site, and Asians only come out to be around 5% of the population.

Blacks and Hispanics both are much high percentages than that (though America remains the Whitest country in the world, which might surprise some people...)

[4lbs]

2. It could be as an ethnic bloc, they (we) are less than 6% of the country, and probably

only half vote, if that much.

Thus, 3% of the electorate at best.

Meanwhile, African-Americans are more than 14% of the population, and Latinos, the largest growing minority, are 18%.

It also seems that political groups and activism representing African-Americans and/or Latinos are more vocal and political than those representing the Asian community.

In addition, where Latinos from various countries and backgrounds tend to band together for a common cause, and so do African-Americans, the Asian community doesn't all that much.

So, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean, don't "intermingle" all that much. That means their political power is much less individually, because the concerns of Chinese-Americans don't necessarily mesh with that of the Vietnamese or Korean communities. Then you have Taiwanese-Americans who don't identify with being part of China, and view China and Chinese-centered politics with suspicion.

The different languages are also a barrier. Where Latinos speak Spanish and English, and African-Americans English almost entirely, Asians speak their native country languages, and thus don't communicate with each other all that much.

Therefore, you can't really say "Asian-Americans" as much as "Chinese-Americans", "Vietnamese-Americans", "Korean-Americans", "Taiwanese-Americans".

I was born in Vietnam, and would probably identify more as Vietnamese-American than Asian-American.

[jamese777]

3. Exit Polls

from both 2008 and 2012 included Asian American voters: 3% of the electorate, Obama 73% and Romney 26%
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012#Voter_demographics
In 2008, Asian Americans were 2% and it was 62% Obama and 35% McCain.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. I've seen polls with Asian-American breakdowns. They have to be BIG sample polls. nt