Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans have given fluctuating levels of support to conservative movements and political parties in the United States, particularly the Republican Party. Many Republican Party members with these origins have obtained posts as elected representatives and political appointments as office holders.
Voting trends From the 1940s to the 1990s most Asian Americans were refugees who had fled mainland China, North Korea or Vietnam, and were strongly anti–Communist. Many had ties to conservative organizations.William Wei, The Asian American movement (1993) pp 16, 226, 274 In recent years, more liberal Asian–American groups such as newer Chinese and Indian immigrants have greatly changed the Asian–American political demographics, as well as a larger proportion of younger Asian Americans, many of whom have completed college degrees.William Wei, The Asian American movement (1993) pp 170, 274
During the 1990s and 2000s, Asian American voting behavior shifted from moderate support for the Republican Party to stronger support for the Democratic Party. In the 1992 presidential election Republican George H. W. Bush received 55% of the Asian–American vote compared to 31% for Democrat Bill Clinton. Asian Americans voted Republican and were the only racial group more conservative than whites in the 1990s, according to surveys.Jeffrey D. Schultz, ed., Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics (2000) Volume 1 pp 261-62 By the 2004 election, Democrat John Kerry won 56% of the Asian American vote, with Chinese and Indian Americans tending to support Kerry, and Vietnamese and Filipino Americans tending to support George Bush.Jim Lobe, Asian-Americans lean toward Kerry , Asia Times. September 16, 2004. Japanese–Americans leaned towards Kerry, while Korean–Americans leaned towards Bush. Democrat Barack Obama won 62% of the Asian American vote in the 2008 presidential election,Election results, America Votes 2004, CNN; ^ Exit Polls, CNN. with the margin increasing during the 2012 presidential election, where Asian Americans voted to re-elect Obama by 73%. In the 2014 midterm elections, based on exit polls, 50% of Asian Americans voted Republican, while 49% voted Democrat; this swing towards voting for Republicans was a shift from the strong Democratic vote in 2012, and had not reached 50% since 1996. The 2016 National Asian American Survey, conducted before the 2016 presidential election, found that 55% of Asian American registered voters supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and only 14% supported Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Despite their growing trend of voting for Democrats in national elections, Asian Americans have tended to identify as independents and have not developed strong ties to political parties as a group. Due to the smaller size of the groups population, in comparison to the population as a whole, it has been difficult to get an adequate sampling to forecast voter outcomes for Asian Americans. In 2008, polls indicated that 35% considered themselves non-partisan, 32% Democrats, 19% independents, and 14% Republicans. The 2012 National Asian American Survey found that 51% considered themselves non–partisan, 33% Democrats, 14% Republicans, and 2% Other; Hmong, Indian, and Korean Americans strongly identified as Democrats, and Filipino and Vietnamese Americans most strongly identified as Republicans. In 2013, according to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Chinese Americans were the least likely Asian American ethnicity to have a party affiliation, with only one third belonging to a party. The 2016 National Asian American Survey found that 41% of Asian Americans identified as non-partisan, 41% as Democrats (a modest increase from 2008 and 2012), and 16% as Republicans.
Neither the Republican nor Democratic parties have financed significant efforts to the registration of Asian Americans, however much more attention has been focused on contributions from Asian Americans, having once been referred to as "the second most generous political donors after Jewish Americans." As recently as 2006, the outreach efforts of America's two major political parties have been unbalanced, with the Democratic Party devoting more resources in attracting Asian Americans. In 2016, a majority of Asian-Americans possessed the same political views on racial profiling, education, social security, and immigration reform as the Democratic Party; the efforts to attract Asian-Americans has produced a proportionally significant growth in Democratic affiliation by Asian-Americans from 2012 to 2016 by 12 percent. Political affiliation aside, Asian-Americans have trended to become more politically active as a whole, with 2008 seeing an increase of voter participation by 4% to a 49% voting rate. Such efforts by the Democratic Party in attracting Asian Americans came to an apex in 2020, with only Vietnamese Americans leaning mostly to the Republicans.
Timeline of events 1900s 1903 – Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district
1920s 1927 – Victor S. K. Houston elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district
1930s 1935 – Samuel Wilder King elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii Territory's At–large district
1950s 1953 – Samuel Wilder King elected as territorial governor of Hawaii 1956 – President Dwight Eisenhower appoints Peter Tali Coleman as governor of American Samoa 1959 – Hiram Fong elected a United States senator from Hawaii James Kealoha elected as lieutenant governor of Hawaii
1960s 1969 – President Richard Nixon appoints Carlos Camacho as governor of Guam
1970s 1971 – Kurt Moylan elected as lieutenant governor of Guam 1977 – S. I. Hayakawa elected as United States Senator from California 1978 – Peter Tali Coleman elected as governor of American Samoa Tufele Liamatua elected as lieutenant governor of American Samoa 1979 – Paul McDonald Calvo elected as governor of Guam Joseph Franklin Ada elected as lieutenant governor of Guam 1980s 1981 – President Ronald Reagan appoints Wendy Lee Gramm as Head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 1982 – Pedro Tenorio elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Pedro Agulto Tenorio elected as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands 1983 – Joseph Franklin Ada elected as governor of Guam 1985 – Vicente T. Blaz elected as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Guam's at–large district 1987 – Pat Saiki (HI) elected to U.S. Congress Frank Blas elected as lieutenant governor of Guam 1989 – President George H. W. Bush appoints Elaine Chao as United States Deputy secretary of Transportation Peter Tali Coleman elected as governor of American Samoa Galea'i Peni Poumele elected as lieutenant governor of American Samoa
1990s 1990 – Juan Babauta elected as resident representative of the Northern Mariana Islands Lorenzo I. De Leon Guerrero as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Benjamin Manglona as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands 1991 – President George H. W. Bush appoints the following: Elaine Chao as director of the Peace Corps Pat Saiki as administrator of the Small Business Administration Jan C. Ting as assistant commissioner at the Immigration and Naturalization Service Cheryl Lau is elected as secretary of State of Nevada 1992 – Gaioi Tufele Galeai appointed as lieutenant governor of American Samoa 1993 – Jay Kim (CA) elected to U.S. Congress 1995 – John Ensign (NV) elected to U.S. Congress Matt Fong elected as California State Treasurer 1998 – President Bill Clinton appoints Bert Mizusawa as Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for Interagency and International Affairs Pedro Tenorio elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Jesus Sablan elected as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands
2000s 2001 – President George W. Bush appoints the following: Elaine Chao as United States secretary of labor David S. C. Chu as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness Viet D. Dinh as United States assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy David Kuo as deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Susan Ralston as special assistant to the president Victor Cha as director for Asian Affairs Karan Bhatia as deputy under secretary of Commerce for Industry John Quoc Duong as director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Chiling Tong as deputy assistant secretary of the International Trade Administration John Ensign elected as United States senator from Nevada 2002 – Duke Aiona as lieutenant governor of Hawaii Juan Babauta elected as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Pedro Agulto Tenorio elected as Resident Representative of the Northern Mariana Islands Diego Benavente as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands 2003 – Felix Perez Camacho elected as governor of Guam Kaleo Moylan as lieutenant governor of Guam 2005 – Bobby Jindal (LA) elected to U.S. Congress 2006 – President George W. Bush appoints the following: Edmund C. Moy as director of the United States Mint Wan J. Kim as assistant United States attorney general for the Civil Rights Division John Yoo as deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel Mina Nguyen as deputy assistant secretary for Business Affairs and Public Liaison Angela Perez Baraquio to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation 2007 – Michael Cruz elected as lieutenant governor of Guam 2008 – Bobby Jindal elected as governor of Louisiana President George W. Bush appoints the following: Sada Cumber as United states special envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Neel Kashkari as assistant secretary of the treasury for financial stability Sandy Baruah as acting administrator of the Small Business Administration Jessie K. Liu as deputy assistant attorney general Lanhee Chen to the Social Security Advisory Board James C. Ho appointed as solicitor general of Texas 2009 – Steve Austria (OH) and Joseph Cao (LA) are elected to U.S. Congress
2010s 2010 – Charles Djou (HI) elected to U.S. Congress 2011 – Nikki Haley elected as governor of South Carolina Eddie Baza Calvo elected as governor of Guam 2013 – Eloy Inos elevated as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Jude Hofschneider elevated to lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Sean Reyes appointed as attorney general of Utah 2014 – Nandita Berry appointed as secretary of State of Texas 2015 – Amata Coleman Radewagen elected as delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa's at–large district Ralph Torres elected as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Ralph Torres elevated as governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Victor Hocog elevated as lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Yumi Hogan becomes the first lady of Maryland 2017 – President Donald Trump appoints the following: Nikki Haley as United States ambassador to the United Nations Elaine Chao as United States secretary of Transportation Noel Francisco as solicitor general of the United States Seema Verma as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Ajit Pai as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Neil Chatterjee as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Neomi Rao as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Manisha Singh as assistant secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Gopal Khanna as director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Kari Bingen as principal deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence Derek Kan as under secretary of transportation for policy