The Asian American vote in the 2024 presidential election

Asian Americans, including multiracial Asian Americans, make up 7% of the U.S. population and 5% of the U.S. registered voters. Their political engagement has been on the rise. This November, over 60% of Asian American voters favored the Democratic candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris. While still a majority, the Asian American Democratic support is lower compared to the 68% for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The decrease in Asian American Democratic support was pronounced among younger voters ages 30-44, Chinese voters, and Independent voters. Across the swing states, the majority of Asian Americans also favored Harris (from 57% in Michigan to 66% in Pennsylvania).

Asian Americans, including multiracial Asian Americans, comprise 7% of the U.S. population and 5% of the U.S. registered voters. Their political engagement has been on the rise. In November 2024, over 60% of Asian American voters supported Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, according to an analysis of AP VoteCast data of over 120,000 voters by CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Similarly, the 2024 American Electorate Voter Poll, a national survey of over 9,000 Americans that includes 1,805 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) who voted in the 2024 election, found 61% of AAPI voters favored Kamala Harris, 35% favored Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, and 4% voted for a third-party.

During the 2020 election, 68% of Asian American voters favored then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden. The decrease in Asian American Democratic support was pronounced among younger voters ages 30-44, Chinese voters, and Independent voters.

White voters favored Trump, non-White voters favored Harris

Among all U.S. voters, 77 million voted for Trump and 75 million voted for Harris. Trump won the popular vote by more than 2 million votes. Harris received 6 million fewer votes in 2024 than Biden did in 2020, while Trump received 3 million more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020. White voters voted Republican in 2024 and in 2020. 56% of White voters favored Trump and 43% favored Harris in 2024. This was nearly unchanged from 2020, where 55% of White voters favored Trump and 43% favored Biden. White voters represent 70% of the U.S. registered voter base. In contrast, non-White voters voted Democratic in 2024 and in 2020, but fewer did so than in 2020.

Asian Americans voted Democratic across all major subgroups

The majority of Asian American voters supported the Democratic candidate in 2024, but their support declined compared to 2020, while Republican support increased. All major Asian American subgroups and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) favored Harris in 2024. Harris saw the strongest support from Japanese voters (75%), while Trump saw the most support from Filipino voters (44%).

Chinese voters experienced sizable shifts between 2020 and 2024. In 2020, 72% of Chinese voters favored Biden and 27% favored Trump, by 2024, 53% favored Harris and 39% favored Trump. Worth noting, Chinese voters are also the most likely subgroup to politically identify as Independent (38%), whose vote can swing either way.

Independent Asian voters have meaningful impact

Asian Americans voters are polarized by party affiliation, overwhelming voting for their party. Independent Asian American voters saw an 11% drop in Democratic support (from 59% for Biden in 2020 to 48% for Harris in 2024).

Asian voters ages 30-44 saw the sharpest drop in Democratic support

By age group, Asian American voters ages 30-44 experienced the sharpest drop (13%) in Democratic support. At 72%, young voters ages 18-29 have the highest support for Harris, but was lower by 9% compared to 2020. Older Asian American voters experienced little to no shift.

Trump received a combined 761,304 more votes in key swing states

Across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the total number of votes cast by all racial and ethnic groups for presidential candidates were higher in 2024 than in 2020. Trump received a combined 761,304 more votes than Harris in the key swing states. Harris received a combined 15,379,528 votes, 47,431 fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. Trump received a combined 16,140,562 votes, 950,647 more votes than he did in 2020.

A majority of Asian voters favored Harris in the swing states

In a popular national election exit poll conducted by a consortium of news organizations (CNN, NBC, Washington Post, among others), it showed 55% of Asian American voters favored Harris (and 40% favored Trump). This differed from CIRCLE’s analysis of AP VoteCast data, where over 60% of Asian Americans favor Harris. The election exit poll further showed White voters favored Trump across the swing states, but there was not enough data on Asian American voters except in Nevada. In Nevada, the election exit poll showed 38% of Asian American voters favored Harris, while 61% favored Trump. However, the 2024 American Electorate Voter Poll showed 64% of Asian American voters favored Harris, while 33% favored Trump in Nevada.

The 2024 American Electorate Voter Poll also found Asian American voters favored Harris across all swing states (from 57% in Michigan to 66% in Pennsylvania). Though Asian American voters favored Harris, they represent a smaller percentage of registered voters in each state. Meanwhile, White voters have an outsized impact as they constitute the majority of each swing state’s registered electorate, particularly in Wisconsin (90%), Pennsylvania (83%), and Michigan (79%).

The 2024 election saw a continuation of Asian American voters’ overall preference for the Democratic presidential candidate, but there were shifts towards the Republican party, reflecting the complex and evolving political landscape within the Asian American electorate. As Asian Americans continue to grow as a voting bloc, their impact on future elections is likely to become more significant.

Helpful Resources

The Youth Vote in 2024 (CIRCLE, Tufts University)

2024 Election Results (The Associated Press)

AP VoteCast: How America voted in 2024 (The Associated Press)

2024 American Electorate Voter Poll (African American Research Collaborative/BSP Research)