In percentage terms, the Asian population was the
fastest growing in the U.S. this past decade, according to new Census data.
The total U.S. population grew by 9.7 percent, from 281.4 million in 2000 to 308.7 million in 2010. In comparison, the Asian alone population increased more than four times faster than the total U.S. population, growing by 43 percent from 10.2 million to 14.7 million.
The Asian alone-or-in-combination population experienced slightly more growth than the Asian alone population, growing by 46 percent from 11.9 million in 2000 to 17.3 million in 2010. In fact, the Asian population grew at a faster rate than all race groups in the country.
32.1 percent of Asians live in California, 9.1 percent in New York, 6.4 percent in Texas, 4.6 percent in New Jersey, and 4.5 percent in Hawaii. If you look at the map above, you can see certain interesting pockets -- like the Hmong in Minnesota, Vietnamese around Houston and Galveston, Texas (lots of Vietnamese shrimpers on the Gulf Coast), and strong concentration in high-tech circles like the SF Bay Area, Boston, North Carolina's Research Triangle, and Seattle.
The largest nationality among these Asian-Americans is Chinese (3.3 million), Asian Indian (2.8 million), Filipino (2.6 million), Vietnamese (1.5 million), Korean (1.4 million), and Japanese (0.8 million). A weird aside, the census counted ONE person of Iwo Jiman descent.
In absolute terms, Latinos accounted for more than half of the 27.3 million increase in the nation's population between 2000 and 2010. Asians had the second-largest numeric change, growing that 4.5 million. As a percentage, the 46 percent increase in the Asian population outpaced the still-blistering 43 percent growth in the Latino community.
This is fascinating stuff merely on the demographics. But politically, it's just more bad news for the GOP. In 2008, Asian-Americans voted for Obama by a 62-35 clip. That wasn't as strong as the 67-31 margins Latinos ran up, but it obviously significantly outpaced the 43-55 deficit President Barack Obama faced with white voters. And since then, Asians views toward Obama are far warmer than that of Latinos. Check out the latest data from the Daily Kos/SEIU weekly state of the nation poll:
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama? (Fav/Unfav)
Asian: 67/30
Latino: 58/38
White: 41/56
African-American: 85/14
In fact, Asians give Obama better marks than any sub-demographic except for "Democrat", "Liberal", "African-American", and "non-Tea Party".
And when asked whether they'd rather see more Democrats or Republicans elected to Congress next year, they chose Democrats by a 57-16 margin (compared to 57-35 for Latinos and 39-52 for whites).
The GOP's saving grace, for now, is that Asians are mostly clustered in safe states. They could be a factor if Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona end up razor thin. But they still haven't achieved the kind of critical mass that can make them into a significant voting bloc ... yet.
But the biggest problem for the GOP here is in the long-term -- yet another fast-growing demographic that is strongly aligning itself against the party of asshole white men. A loose coalition of Latinos, Asians, white liberals and young voters will radically change GOP fortunes in the West in the coming several decades (not to mention a handful of "border" states like Virginia and North Carolina). And if Republicans lose those states, along with the Northeast, their paths to national majorities becomes difficult at best.
