From NY to CA: Delivering Super Tuesday Wins
Elena Ong
February 22, 2008
On President's Day 2008, Americans and Leaders throughout the World, were asking "Which Presidential Candidate should lead America on President's Day 2009?"
For the majority of the nation's Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the answer is Hillary Clinton.
But that answer didn't begin in 2008.
Asian American Pacific Islander support for Hillary Clinton started 16 years before the 2008 Presidential Election cycle.
Hillary Clinton earned the support of AAPIs when she was First Lady of the United States. The people and leaders of the world will always respect then-First Lady Hillary Clinton's trip to China, when she stood up for "Women's Rights as a Human Right, and Human Rights as a Women's Right." The people and leaders of the world will always remember Hillary Clinton as a solution-builder, an eloquent speaker who would stand up for the "voiceless" and a champion with the tenacity to fight for social justice and social change.
It is Clinton's strength and experience as a global leader, and the fact that her top policy advisor who handles the broad spectrum of policy issues, is of South Asian descent, that Asian American Pacific Islander Americans have confidence that Hillary Clinton will solve the issues Asian American Pacific Islanders, and the majority of Americans, care about - ensuring the American Dream is within reach of all Americans by improving the economy, improving educational quality, ensuring universal health coverage, creating socially and environmentally responsible jobs, reforming immigration, and protecting our constitutional/human/voting/civil rights.
It is Clinton's gender that is a plus. Of the 192 members of the United Nations plus independent states, there are 21 women heads of state and government, including the Presidents of Argentina, Bosnia, Chile, Finland, India, Ireland, Liberia and The Philippines. AAPIs have friends and family who live in countries governed by a woman leader, and AAPIs value the significance of change: having a woman with Hillary Clinton's strength and experience become the President of the United States, the leader of the free world.
Understanding the benefit of electing Hillary Clinton president, Asian American Pacific Islanders for Hillary was founded in May, 2007, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and the momentum for Hillary's support for 44th US President grew.
It started in the rural and urban communities of Iowa, where the Iowa AAPIs for Hillary Leadership Council organized events with Governor Vilsack and the AAPI community, to reach out to 50,000 AAPI women and men, throughout Iowa.
It continued in Nevada, where the grassroots Nevada AAPIs for Hillary Leadership Council organized efforts to get out the AAPI vote. Nevada was significant because it was the first state in the campaign trail where AAPIs comprise more than 5% of the state's population. Although the national polls found that only 2% of Nevada's Primary Caucus attendees were AAPIs, we recognize that this could be because many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are intermarried, or have Spanish-surnames, and may not have had their identity counted as an AAPI. But even without the numbers, we knew, from knocking on doors, and talking to voters and community leaders in the field, that AAPIs in Nevada provided the headway for Hillary's successive Super Tuesday wins.
It continued in American Samoa, where Hillary was endorsed by the Governor of American Samoa, and won 2 of the 3 Delegates awarded by America Samoa.
But it wasn't until Super Tuesday, that we had the numbers to measure the significance of AAPI political support for a presidential candidate's win.
By Super Tuesday 2008, more than half, and nearly 2/3, of AAPIs throughout America got a chance to cast their vote for the next President of the United States.
On Super Tuesday, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, delivered Hillary Clinton's biggest Super Tuesday wins in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and California.
NEW YORK:
From East to West, from sea to shining sea, AAPIs delivered New York, Hillary's home state, where AAPIs comprise 7% of New York State's population. The national exit polls conducted that evening suggested only 2% of voters in the 2008 NY primary were AAPI, so it was important to wait until the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund's (AALDEF) Exit Poll was published to find out who AAPIs voted for in the NY primary.
In New York:
91% of Asian American women Democrats supported Hillary
80% of Asian American male Democrats supported Hillary.
Among Asian American ethnic groups, the greatest support for Clinton came from Chinese American voters (90%), Korean American voters (81%) and South Asian Americans (70%). To date, Hillary received 139 of the New Jersey's 232 delegates. (Source: AALDEF). It is important to recognize the significance of NY's AAPI vote, which was 8% of the nation's AAPI vote in the 2004 Presidential Election.
NEW JERSEY:
AAPIs delivered New Jersey, where AAPIs comprise 8% of New Jersey's population. AAPIs comprised an estimated 4% of New Jersey's electorate on Primary Day. This one state delivers 4% of the nation's AAPI vote cast in the 2004 Presidential Election.
In New Jersey:
73% of Asian American Democrats supported Hillary.
Korean-American voters, the largest Asian ethnic group polled in New Jersey favored Clinton by 80%. To date, Hillary received an estimated 59 out of New Jersey's 107 delegates (Source: AALDEF).
MASSACHUSETTS:
AAPIs delivered Massachusetts, where AAPIs comprise 5% of Massachusetts' population and an estimated 2% of Massachusetts' vote on Primary Day. Although the MSNBC exit poll was not able to capture the size of the AAPI vote, or it's voting propensity, it found that 53% of Others (which includes Asian American Pacific Islanders) supported Hillary Clinton. To date, Hillary received 55 of Massachusetts' 93 delegates. (Source: CNN).
CALIFORNIA:
Like rolling thunder, Hillary's momentum swept across the nation, where Hillary struck California's gold, a state where AAPIs are 13% of California's population, and 8% of the electorate on Primary Day. While many AAPIs cast their vote as early as January 7, when Absentee Voting Began, others cast their vote, in-person, or by absentee ballot, by February 5. The sentiment of grassroots support in California is critical, because this one state alone delivers nearly 40% (39%) of the nation's AAPI vote.
In California:
75% of Asian American Pacific Islander Democrats/Independents supported Hillary(Source: CNN Poll quoted in the S.F. Chronicle).
71% of Asian American Democrats/Independents supported Hillary
(Source: LA Times Poll).
Hillary received 207 of the 370 California delegates awarded to date.
On Super Tuesday, nothing was more exciting than hearing CNN announce, live on the night of the election, that AAPIs in California counted. That 75% of AAPIs delivered Hillary's win. It was a proud moment for those who worked hard to educate, inform, and get voters to the polls on Election Day.
And it's important that AAPI political participation not be misunderstood or misperceived. That's why I'm counting on the media to play a pivotal role in providing fair and balanced reporting, and doing what it can to prevent coverage that could potentially suppress AAPI civic engagement/voter participation.
After all, more than 75% of California's AAPIs are American-born, and Californians born in another country have worked hard to earn this rite of passage (US citizenship), this right to cast their vote.
Towards that end, I call on everyone, including the media, to embrace civic engagement, and to educate, reach out to, and empower, every American: every eligible African-American, Asian-American, Latina/o American, Native-American, Pacific Islander-American, European-American, Australian-American, etc., women or man, to register, to vote, to get out the vote, in the remaining 2008 Presidential Primaries, and beyond. Your action, to vote, and get out the vote, will speak tomes.
For the majority of the nation's Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the answer is Hillary Clinton.
But that answer didn't begin in 2008.
Asian American Pacific Islander support for Hillary Clinton started 16 years before the 2008 Presidential Election cycle.
Hillary Clinton earned the support of AAPIs when she was First Lady of the United States. The people and leaders of the world will always respect then-First Lady Hillary Clinton's trip to China, when she stood up for "Women's Rights as a Human Right, and Human Rights as a Women's Right." The people and leaders of the world will always remember Hillary Clinton as a solution-builder, an eloquent speaker who would stand up for the "voiceless" and a champion with the tenacity to fight for social justice and social change.
It is Clinton's strength and experience as a global leader, and the fact that her top policy advisor who handles the broad spectrum of policy issues, is of South Asian descent, that Asian American Pacific Islander Americans have confidence that Hillary Clinton will solve the issues Asian American Pacific Islanders, and the majority of Americans, care about - ensuring the American Dream is within reach of all Americans by improving the economy, improving educational quality, ensuring universal health coverage, creating socially and environmentally responsible jobs, reforming immigration, and protecting our constitutional/human/voting/civil rights.
It is Clinton's gender that is a plus. Of the 192 members of the United Nations plus independent states, there are 21 women heads of state and government, including the Presidents of Argentina, Bosnia, Chile, Finland, India, Ireland, Liberia and The Philippines. AAPIs have friends and family who live in countries governed by a woman leader, and AAPIs value the significance of change: having a woman with Hillary Clinton's strength and experience become the President of the United States, the leader of the free world.
Understanding the benefit of electing Hillary Clinton president, Asian American Pacific Islanders for Hillary was founded in May, 2007, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and the momentum for Hillary's support for 44th US President grew.
It started in the rural and urban communities of Iowa, where the Iowa AAPIs for Hillary Leadership Council organized events with Governor Vilsack and the AAPI community, to reach out to 50,000 AAPI women and men, throughout Iowa.
It continued in Nevada, where the grassroots Nevada AAPIs for Hillary Leadership Council organized efforts to get out the AAPI vote. Nevada was significant because it was the first state in the campaign trail where AAPIs comprise more than 5% of the state's population. Although the national polls found that only 2% of Nevada's Primary Caucus attendees were AAPIs, we recognize that this could be because many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are intermarried, or have Spanish-surnames, and may not have had their identity counted as an AAPI. But even without the numbers, we knew, from knocking on doors, and talking to voters and community leaders in the field, that AAPIs in Nevada provided the headway for Hillary's successive Super Tuesday wins.
It continued in American Samoa, where Hillary was endorsed by the Governor of American Samoa, and won 2 of the 3 Delegates awarded by America Samoa.
But it wasn't until Super Tuesday, that we had the numbers to measure the significance of AAPI political support for a presidential candidate's win.
By Super Tuesday 2008, more than half, and nearly 2/3, of AAPIs throughout America got a chance to cast their vote for the next President of the United States.
On Super Tuesday, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, delivered Hillary Clinton's biggest Super Tuesday wins in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and California.
NEW YORK:
From East to West, from sea to shining sea, AAPIs delivered New York, Hillary's home state, where AAPIs comprise 7% of New York State's population. The national exit polls conducted that evening suggested only 2% of voters in the 2008 NY primary were AAPI, so it was important to wait until the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund's (AALDEF) Exit Poll was published to find out who AAPIs voted for in the NY primary.
In New York:
91% of Asian American women Democrats supported Hillary
80% of Asian American male Democrats supported Hillary.
Among Asian American ethnic groups, the greatest support for Clinton came from Chinese American voters (90%), Korean American voters (81%) and South Asian Americans (70%). To date, Hillary received 139 of the New Jersey's 232 delegates. (Source: AALDEF). It is important to recognize the significance of NY's AAPI vote, which was 8% of the nation's AAPI vote in the 2004 Presidential Election.
NEW JERSEY:
AAPIs delivered New Jersey, where AAPIs comprise 8% of New Jersey's population. AAPIs comprised an estimated 4% of New Jersey's electorate on Primary Day. This one state delivers 4% of the nation's AAPI vote cast in the 2004 Presidential Election.
In New Jersey:
73% of Asian American Democrats supported Hillary.
Korean-American voters, the largest Asian ethnic group polled in New Jersey favored Clinton by 80%. To date, Hillary received an estimated 59 out of New Jersey's 107 delegates (Source: AALDEF).
MASSACHUSETTS:
AAPIs delivered Massachusetts, where AAPIs comprise 5% of Massachusetts' population and an estimated 2% of Massachusetts' vote on Primary Day. Although the MSNBC exit poll was not able to capture the size of the AAPI vote, or it's voting propensity, it found that 53% of Others (which includes Asian American Pacific Islanders) supported Hillary Clinton. To date, Hillary received 55 of Massachusetts' 93 delegates. (Source: CNN).
CALIFORNIA:
Like rolling thunder, Hillary's momentum swept across the nation, where Hillary struck California's gold, a state where AAPIs are 13% of California's population, and 8% of the electorate on Primary Day. While many AAPIs cast their vote as early as January 7, when Absentee Voting Began, others cast their vote, in-person, or by absentee ballot, by February 5. The sentiment of grassroots support in California is critical, because this one state alone delivers nearly 40% (39%) of the nation's AAPI vote.
In California:
75% of Asian American Pacific Islander Democrats/Independents supported Hillary(Source: CNN Poll quoted in the S.F. Chronicle).
71% of Asian American Democrats/Independents supported Hillary
(Source: LA Times Poll).
Hillary received 207 of the 370 California delegates awarded to date.
On Super Tuesday, nothing was more exciting than hearing CNN announce, live on the night of the election, that AAPIs in California counted. That 75% of AAPIs delivered Hillary's win. It was a proud moment for those who worked hard to educate, inform, and get voters to the polls on Election Day.
And it's important that AAPI political participation not be misunderstood or misperceived. That's why I'm counting on the media to play a pivotal role in providing fair and balanced reporting, and doing what it can to prevent coverage that could potentially suppress AAPI civic engagement/voter participation.
After all, more than 75% of California's AAPIs are American-born, and Californians born in another country have worked hard to earn this rite of passage (US citizenship), this right to cast their vote.
Towards that end, I call on everyone, including the media, to embrace civic engagement, and to educate, reach out to, and empower, every American: every eligible African-American, Asian-American, Latina/o American, Native-American, Pacific Islander-American, European-American, Australian-American, etc., women or man, to register, to vote, to get out the vote, in the remaining 2008 Presidential Primaries, and beyond. Your action, to vote, and get out the vote, will speak tomes.
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