Asian Americans and the Immigrant Vote in the 2020 U.S. Election

By Karthick Ramakrishan and Janelle Wong
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Immigrants will make-up about 1-in-10 people eligible to register to vote in the upcoming U.S. elections on November 3rd, and Asian-origin immigrants will comprise about the same proportion of that voting bloc as those from Latin America. And while the majority of people of Latinx heritage are U.S. born, the majority of Asian Americans were born outside the United States. Thus, most Asian American voters are immigrants or naturalized citizens. This issue brief explores how this group is making its mark in 2020.

This brief presents the results of interviews conducted by telephone and online from July 15th to September 10th, 2020 of 1,569 registered voters who identify as Asian American. The survey included Chinese, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Filipino voters.The data show that enthusiasm toward the upcoming U.S. presidential election is running high. A majority (54%) of registered Asian Americans say that compared to previous elections they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting. Indeed, results suggest that the 2020 election will break records for the Asian American vote for a presidential election.

Janelle Wong, co-author or the brief and Senior Researcher with AAPI Data commented, ‘This brief highlights the unique views and experiences of the fastest-growing racial group in the American electorate, Asian Americans, so that we can better understand their current and future impact.’

For media outreach about the brief, please contact: immigrationinitiative@harvard.edu