Hispanics and Asians Trail Behind in Voter Registration, Study Finds

Hispanics and Asians are lagging behind in voter registration, a new study by Gallup reveals. The study, which was released on Tuesday, reports that Hispanics trail by almost 30 percentage points from whites and blacks when it comes to voter registration. Meanwhile, Asians trail by 20 percentage points.

Gallup reports that over 80 percent of blacks and whites are registered to vote, whereas only 60 percent of Asians and 51 percent of Hispanics are registered.

The study attributes the low registration rates among those ethnic groups on a number of factors. Chiefly, many Hispanics and Asians living in the U.S. are not able to register because they’re not U.S. citizens. The study also notes that language may be a factor, since foreign-born blacks are more likely to register to vote than foreign-born Hispanics and Asians.

According to Gallup, U.S.-born Hispanics and Asians have much higher registration rates than their foreign-born counterparts--at least 75 percent.

The study also found that both Hispanics and Asians tend to lean more towards Democrats. “Notably, Hispanics and Asians who are registered to vote are even more Democratic than those who are not registered,” the report said.

The data found that 58 percent of registered Hispanics identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic, compared to 22 percent who identified as Republicans or leaned Republican. Meanwhile, 66 percent of registered Asians identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic, compared to 24 percent who identified as Republican or leaned Republican. Only 13 percent of registered Hispanics and 9 percent of registered Asians identified as Independents.

Those numbers shifted more towards Independents among both Hispanics and Asians that were not registered, 29 percent and 24 percent respectively. Hispanics and Asians that were not registered still leaned more Democratic than Republican, the study found.

The study stated, “At least in the case of Hispanics, for which there are sufficient data to do the analysis, the stronger Democratic tilt among registered voters appears to be unrelated to where they were born.”

“That is, registered Hispanics born in the U.S. or outside the U.S. have similar -- decidedly Democratic -- political leanings. Likewise, nonregistered Hispanics tend to have similar party preferences regardless of where they were born, with a much stronger independent orientation,” it continued.

Among U.S.-born registered Hispanics, 57 percent identify as Democrats, 13 percent as Independents and 29 percent as Republicans. Meanwhile, among foreign-born registered Hispanics, 61 percent identify as Democrats, 14 percent as Independents and 20 percent as Republicans. Those numbers drastically leaned towards Independents for both U.S.-born and foreign-born Hispanics who were not registered.

The study concluded that Democrats must increase voter registration among Hispanics and Asians to benefit from Democratic-leaning trends. Meanwhile, Republicans must work to alter its party’s appearance among the two minority groups.