8 Asians

Asian American voters have been cited as potentially critical swing voters in states like Nevada, Virginia, and Florida, but those looking for Asian American swing voters should look to California. This San Jose Mercury News analysis shows that the 7 out of the top 10 most nonpartisan cities in California have Asian American majorities. You can see this in the following table.

This table shows the top 10 most nonpartisan cities in California. Majority Asian American cities are in bold.  Cupertino, with an Asian American majority of 63.4%, is the most independent. You can also see that some 626 cities like Arcadia and San Marino are on the list.  Note also that San Francisco and Sunnyvale also have large Asian populations, with 33.3% and 40.9% respectively.

Why are so many Asian Americans nonpartisan? Professor James Lai, director of Santa Clara University’s Asian American studies program and Cupertino resident, says that Asian Americans feel frustrated that neither party has reached out to them regarding their key issues. Cupertino resident Darcy Paul, the Missouri born son of Taiwanese immigrants, says that he is “a continually conflicted nonpartisan voter because there are aspects of both major parties that I agree with, and then aspects I strongly disagree with.”