In a study of candidates for the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2018, she found that in general, having an Asian American candidate boosted Asian American turnout in districts with a significant proportion of Asian American residents, although those results can vary depending on nationality or ethnicity. Over the past few election cycles, AAPI voters have become a bigger and more influential slice of the electorate. As a result, AAPI voters have been “connecting the dots of how who gets elected really impacts decisions being made,” Chen said. For example, every major candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries had at least one staffer working specifically on AAPI voter outreach. When developing their messaging, campaigns should acknowledge the specific ways AAPI voters are affected by the major issues, she said.

Source: Huffington Post November 11, 2020 10:45 UTC