WA still or used to have residual Asian-American voters that tend to vote republican. Those voters have largely abandoned the Republican party, I suspect further erosion with growing anti-Asian racism fueled by Trump's rhetoric. A similar pattern could be seen in Orange County, CA Vietnamese precincts as Vietnamese-American voters swing further to the Democrats.
Who were these voters, and where in the state did they live? I suspect most of the shift with Vietnamese-American voters is due to generational replacement as native-borns and 1.5gens come of age.
Yeah, the GOP really messed up with Asian-American voters. They went from being rather reliably Republican before the 2000s to reliably Democratic in recent times. Trump has just made things even worse.
Sadly, I don't see the Republican party winning back Asian-American voters anytime soon. However, I've got the sense that Asians in WA are Democratic than Asians in California.
Interesting, why do you think Asian voters in CA are more Republican?
Asian-American communities in WA are scattered around Seattle and Tacoma metro area. A good friend of mine grew up in Tacoma suburbs. His dad white and mom south Korean. We spoke after the 2016 election, he mentioned the church he used to attend was 2/3 Asian in attendance and overwhelmingly republican, however from the conversation he gathered most of them opted for Hillary Clinton. He said he heard a lot from Asian-Americans that Trump makes them uncomfortable and they felt he's unreliable and unfit.
He also mentioned, that his mother who always voted GOP until 2016 was deeply disturbed by trump's interaction with an Asian-American student and said she'll never vote for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw3uBLOUwfUI'm referring to this interaction.
This kind of talk irritates Asian-American. when people question where they came from. The general question goes "where you from?", "I'm from Cali born and raised", "No, no, where you originally from?".
So It's not scientific but rather a general feel and anecdotes, from my friends and their families, and articles I've read on LA times, Seattle times and Boston globe.
Regarding Vietnamese-American, generational trend is definitely a factor. From what I read the older generation of Vietnamese-American swung against Trump as well.
LA Asian American community is more religious than the Seattle Asian American community. Although San Francisco Asian community aren't that religious from what I've witnessed. One of my Chinese-American friends once described Asians in the bay area are a lot like Bruce Lee, they were non-religious way before it was a trend among white Americans. Bay area also has a significant Filipino community that can be quite socially conservative.
I might be wrong but it's what I've read, witnessed, and experienced.