An exit poll of 513 voters in New York Chinatown has found just as with the rest of the state, Chinatown voters overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the race for president.
The poll conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund also revealed the big issue among Chinatown voters was the economy and jobs with 38% listing it as the top issue affecting their votes. That was followed by health care, 13%, education,10%, and immigration, 7%.
Clinton received 54% of votes from Chinatown voters polled compared to 58% in the rest of the state. 43% supported Sanders, just slightly hire than the 42.3% in the state overall.
On the Republican side, 60% supported Trump just as the rest of the state did. Kasich and Cruz each earned 12% of the Chinatown vote, lower than the 25% and 14.8% statewide.
In the special election to replace former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 75% of Chinatown voters polled threw their support to the two Chinese American candidates with the winner, Democrat Alice Cancel only getting 16% versus 41% district wide.
Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou won support of 50% of the Chinatown voters polled versus 35% district wide.
Republican Lester Chang won the support of 33% of Chinatown, much higher than the 20% district wide.
The poll was conducted in both Chinese and English.
“Given the large turnout of voters in Chinatown on Primary Day, we hope that Asian Americans across the country will make their voices heard by registering to vote and casting their ballots in the November presidential election,” said Margaret Fung, Executive Director of AALDEF.
15% of those polled were first-time voters. 84% were registered Democrats, 8% Republicans and 6% were independents.
AALDEF also sent out poll monitors to 18 voting precincts and uncovered complaints from Asian American voters who said they encountered problems casting their votes.
Some voters complained their names were missing from voter rolls. Some described poll workers as rude or hostile and some were sent to the wrong polling site.
“AALDEF worked with the NYC Board of Elections to resolve many issues for voters on Election Day and will follow up with all voters that encountered barriers in voting,” said AALDEF Democracy Program Director Jerry Vattamala.
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