Seventy-nine percent of 2016 Asian American voters wanted Hillary Clinton for president, while a majority supported stricter gun control laws, comprehensive immigration reform, and laws that protect the LGBT community, according to a recently released exit poll survey conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund during election day last year on Nov. 8.
AALDEF surveyed 13,846 Asian American voters at 93 poll sites in 55 cities across 14 states — California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia — as well as Washington, D.C. The five largest ethnic groups polled were Chinese (35 percent), South Asian (29 percent), Korean (10 percent), Southeast Asian (10 percent), and Filipino (7 percent).
For the presidential vote, 79 percent of Asian Americans supported Clinton, while 18 percent supported Donald Trump. Fifty-nine percent of Asian Americans identify as Democrats, while only 12 percent identify as Republican. Twenty-seven percent say they are non-affiliated.
Unlike the presidential vote, support for stricter gun control was seen from both parties, with an overall 78 percent support for the issue (82 percent of Asian American Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans.)
In 2012, 65 percent of Asian Americans overall supported comprehensive immigration reform, and that number did not change in 2016, according to the study (72 percent of Asian American Democrats, and 50 percent of Republicans.)
Sixty-five percent of Asian Americans also support laws that protect the LGBT community from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Forty-nine percent of Asian American Republicans said they supported laws to protect LGBTQ people, while 28 percent said they opposed them; 69 percent of Asian American Democrats supported, while 13 percent opposed.
The AALDEF, a national organization that aims at protecting and promoting the civil rights of Asian Americans, has conducted exit polls of Asian American voters in every major election since 1988. In 2016, 124 community organizations and law firms joined AALDEF to mobilize over 800 attorneys, law students, and volunteers to conduct the exit poll and to safeguard the voting rights of Asian Americans.
