Obama won 71 percent of Asian vote: Poll
President Barack Obama won the support of anestimated 2.3 million of Asian American voters to Republican challenger MittRomney's estimated 900,000 votes, or 71 percent to 28 percent, according to anew poll.
However, the country's fastest growing ethnic group is not wedded to eitherparty, according to the survey released Wednesday by the Asian American JusticeCentre, Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote and the National AsianAmerican Survey.
Obama's biggest break came among voters whose top issues were immigration, theenvironment and civil rights, but the most important issue to all voterssurveyed was "economy and jobs".
According to the post-election survey, 46 percent of registered voters polledand 43 percent of those who voted in the 2012 election said they do not identifywith either major party.
"Still, one of the persistent dynamics of the Asian American electorate isits continued potential for persuasion by candidates of either party," thepoll said.
In a raft of current and projected swing states - including North Carolina,Virginia and Florida - the Asian American population's explosion in the lastdecade has outpaced the national average.
The poll notes: "In 2008, about 600,000 new Asian Americans entered theelectorate, and we anticipate a similar increase in 2012, approaching 3 percentof all votes cast."
The projected share of the Asian American vote in 2016 will continue toincrease, the poll found. Asian American voters increased from 1.6 percent ofthe total vote in 1996 to 2.5 percent in 2008.
The poll was based on 2,785 phone interviews from Nov 7-25 with adults whoidentified themselves as Asian American, and the margin of error is plus/minus2 percent.