LONG BEACH, CA (October 14, 2004) interTrend
Communications, a full-service Asian American marketing communications
agency, announced the results of
a study analyzing key decision factors for Asian Pacific
Islander Americans (APIAs) in the 2004 Election. The results
uncovered the importance of candidates to reach out to APIAs
A survey was conducted across Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean,
Filipino and Asian Indian segments, both in-language and
in English between August 8 ~ September 19, 2004 with a
total sample size of 830 for all segments. Surveys were
conducted one-on-one at highly concentrated Asian areas
and communities. Online surveys were collected as well.
The sample collection was based on population densities
across 4 major cities including Los Angeles, New York,
San Francisco/San Jose and Texas.
"This study was conducted through InterTrend's recently
launched Knowledge Center," said Tanya Raukko, Director
of Strategic
Planning. "We recognize that our business competes on our
ability to add valuable market insights, based upon our
expertise in the Asian American landscape. Our infrastructure
allows associates to seamlessly contribute and utilize
knowledge and information to both service our clients faster
and easier and to promote constant innovation.
The results show that APIAs are most concerned with issues
regarding the economy, education, immigration and healthcare.
This is strikingly different from general market polls;
for example, in a USA Today's national study, the top 3
issues were the economy, terrorism and Iraq. For APIAs,
the war and terrorism are less critical deciding issues
than domestic policies such as education and healthcare.
Kerry leads as the more favorable candidate among most
APIAs. Most Asian segments are voting along their preferred
Democratic Party lines, with the exception of Vietnamese
- 43% of Vietnamese favor the Republican party and 42%
favor President Bush. Among the total APIAs surveyed, more
than 49% identify themselves with the Democratic Party
and 28% choose the Republican Party.
Filipinos, Asian Indians and Koreans feel the strongest
about policies toward in-country issues influencing their
candidate decisions. Overall, 54% said it was extremely
important that candidates reach out to their respective
communities.
Karen Narasaki, President of the National Asian Pacific
American Legal Consortium (NAPALC), states the importance
of this trend, "The shift in party support between
the 2000 and 2004 elections, shows that neither party can
take the APIA vote for granted and there is still a substantial
opportunity to capture these voters if an investment is
made in targeted outreach. Because Asian Americans have
priorities that vary from that of the general American
public, candidates seeking their vote need to reach out
and speak convincingly to Asian Americans about initiatives
to address their core concerns."
The study also shows that more than 64% of APIAs consume
in-language media for election news, with newspapers, magazines
and television being the top sources. "Candidates
need to directly reach out to this community, two-thirds
of whom are foreign born," said Janelle Hu, National
Campaign Coordinator, APIAVote 2004. "Providing materials
and information in APIA languages will encourage the growing
immigrant community to get out and vote. APIAVote has been
producing voter outreach and education materials in multiple
ethnic languages since 1996. As a result of our multi-faceted
efforts, we anticipate more APIA voters racing to the polls
this election," added Janelle Hu.
For more information on the results of the study, please
CLICK to download
