Yesterday, a top news organization spotlighted how Asian Americans are emerging onto the national political scene, and gave the lead quote to AAA-Fund Executive Director Gautam Dutta (via Medill Reports and Politico):
“[Asian Americans] are an emerging bloc, suddenly in the last few years in both state and national elections,” said Gautam Dutta, the executive director of the Asian-American Action Fund.
Of U.S.-born adults eligible to vote, Asians were 18 percentage points behind non-Asians in voter turnout in the 2006 midterm election. The naturalized Asian community was four percentage points behind non-Asians in voting rates that same year, according to a UCLA report released earlier this month.
But the turnout for the California primary on Feb. 5 suggested a boom in voter participation could be in the making. More than half a million Asian Americans went to the polls, according to Presidentpolls2008.com.
This fall, with their growing numbers in crucial states like Nevada and Virginia, Asian Americans are poised to send AAA-Fund endorsee Barack Obama to the White House.
