The Asian Vote by Ethnic Group

[mileslunn]

Interestingly enough Bush Sr., Reagan, and even Bob Dole in 1996 won the Asian vote.  I also wonder if the growing number of Asians coming from the Indian subcontinent as opposed to the Far East will make it harder for the GOP to win amongst the Asian community as usually those from the Indian subcontinent tend to vote more heavily Democrat than other Asian groups.  I am originally from British Columbia where you had two parties at a provincial level (BC Liberals who despite their name were the pro-free enterprise coalition) and the NDP (who were the social democratic party).  Usually the Chinese and others from the Far East would vote massively BC Liberal whereas the South Asians would vote massively NDP.  That is why Richmond which was once a swing area is now one of the BC Liberals safest areas (large Chinese population) while the northern parts of Surrey are now one of the most heavily NDP areas (large East Indian community).  Still interesting how badly the GOP has fallen here as Bob Dole got 48% of the Asian vote in 1996 while Romney only got 27%.  As much as people talk about ending the racial divisions, it seems they have widened in voting patterns as Romney had one of the worst GOP showings amongst minorities in quite a while whereas Obama despite winning did worse than Kerry and Gore and around the same as Dukakis amongst whites.

[mileslunn]

What professions are Indians in British Columbia associated with?

Their mixed, but many are blue collar workers.  You also have several in the service industry and some professionals too.

[mileslunn]

What professions are Indians in British Columbia associated with?

Their mixed, but many are blue collar workers.  You also have several in the service industry and some professionals too.

I get the feeling that Indians in Canada are more blue collar than the US which would impact their voting habits, no? I think a lot of Indians in the US would feel more comfortable with the Liberals than NDP. Of course, I doubt many would vote for the Conservative party, which means not many will vote for the Republicans who are even more conservative than the Canadian party. Though didn't the Conservatives do well with Asians last time around? Or was that just the Chinese?

The Conservatives did well with the Chinese, but not the East Indians.  Also the visible minority vote was lower for them than the white vote, but they didn't get clobbered like the GOP did.  It was 31% vs. the overall national average of 40%.  By contrast it was 59% for the GOP amongst whites while only 20% amongst minorities so a much smaller gap in Canada.  I should note in Britain also, the East Indians voted overwhelmingly for the Labour Party with Conservative support only in the teens.  Not sure how it breaks down in Australia although I am pretty sure Labor Party does better amongst minorities than the Liberals.