The 2008 National Asian American Survey, released at a Washington, D.C., press conference this morning, paints a portrait of an Asian American electorate still largely "up for grabs" due to an uncommonly high proportion of "non-partisan," undecided likely voters.
While the findings show that the continuation of a decade-long leftward trend among Asian Americans, with 41 percent likely to favor Obama versus 24 percent supporting John McCain, researchers point out that a key finding of their study is the high numbers of undecided Asian American likely voters: 34 percent, compared with 8 percent among the general population reported in national, post-convention polls.
The researchers suggest that Asian American voters stand to play "a significant role" in not only those battleground states such as Virginia, Nevada and Washington where they account for 5 percent or more of the population, but even in states such as Colorado, Ohio and Florida, where they can still theoretically provide the margin of victory.
The study was conducted by researchers from four leading universities: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley); University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside); and University of Southern California (USC).
For the complete release details, see the posting, Study: APA Undecideds May Play Key Role Nov. 4
