AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

This paper offers an analysis of Asian American voter participation and candidate choice in the 2020 primary election. We look at election records from eight different states as well as offer a case study on Asian American voters in Los Angeles County. We find that the number of Asian American voters grew moderately in the 2020 primary compared to the 2016 primary. Some evidence shows that Asian Americans preferred Bernie Sanders over other candidates but the pattern of Asian American candidate vote choice does vary across states suggesting that local politics influenced Asian American preferences. Asian Americans are an understudied group in American elections and this paper offers new data that can be used to gain insights into how Asian American voter participation changes over time.