Thursday, November 8, 2012

Asian-Adjacent

One of the big reasons why Romney and the Republicans lost was because they performed as badly as Republicans did among minority voters in 2008...and in many cases, fared far worse.  Romney got only 5% of the African American vote, and did far worse among Latino voters than expected:  President Obama's expected 67% share of that vote turned into 75%.

But the most interesting demographic:  President Obama and the Democrats picked up nearly 75% of the Asian American vote too.

President Barack Obama enjoyed soaring support from Asian Americans to win another term, a survey said Wednesday, as voters elected new faces to Congress including its first Hindu lawmaker.

A poll conducted for community groups found that 73 percent of Asian Americans voted for Obama on Tuesday, a gain from the two-thirds support he won in 2008 and part of a major shift toward the Democrats over the past 20 years.

While small in total, Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States and made up 3.4 percent of the electorate on Tuesday, up from 2.7 percent four years ago.

What issues are important?  The economy, and surprisingly, Obamacare.

The survey — whose finding on Asian American support for Obama was similar to polls carried out for media outlets — said that the top issue for the community was the economy.

In one potential reason behind support for Obama, Asian Americans were supportive of his signature legislative achievement, with 60 percent saying that the government had a role to play in ensuring access to health care.

Tuesday also meant the first practicing Hindu member of Congress was elected as well.

At least five Americans of Asian or Pacific Island descent, all Democrats, won new seats in Congress. In Hawaii, 31-year-old Tulsi Gabbard was elected as the first Hindu member of Congress.

Gabbard, who served in combat in Iraq, is of Samoan descent and her mother embraced the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

“That Gabbard won while proudly espousing her Hinduism and voicing a willingness to be a strong voice for Hindu Americans brings over two million Americans into the political landscape for the first time,” said Aseem Shukla, co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation.

Mazie Hirono, who held the seat which Gabbard won, was elected to the Senate. She will be the first senator who is Buddhist and the first who was born in Japan.

The Democrats' minority-majority coalition marches on, and it cost the GOP big.  America the melting pot has never been more true.  Time for the GOP to adapt or perish politically.  New tag as America forges ahead:  The New Minority Majority.

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