Asian American and Pacific Islander Voters Could Play Major Role in 2026 Midterms, Survey Finds

WASHINGTON — Asian American and Pacific Islander voters could play an increasingly important role in the 2026 midterm elections, with a new national survey finding that 90% of registered voters in the communities say they plan to cast ballots this November.

The 2026 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Voter Survey, released Aug. 26 by APIAVote and AAPI Data, estimates that 16 million AAPI voters will be eligible to vote in 2026, including approximately 1.6 million people who have become newly eligible since 2022.

The survey, conducted among 2,066 registered AAPI voters, also points to a politically engaged electorate whose priorities are centered largely on economic and domestic issues.

High level of voter participation planned

Ninety percent of registered AAPI voters surveyed said they plan to vote in the 2026 midterm elections, compared with 84% who said the same in 2022 and 86% in 2018.

Seventy-one percent said they were absolutely certain they would vote, while another 23% said they were fairly certain.

Voting preferences remain divided between traditional and alternative methods. Forty-five percent said they prefer voting in person, while 34% prefer voting by mail and 15% prefer ballot drop-off.

The survey found differences in voting certainty among ethnic groups. Japanese American voters reported the highest level of certainty at 80%, followed by Filipino voters at 78%. Korean and Vietnamese voters reported the lowest levels, at 60%.

Cost of living tops policy concerns

Cost of living and inflation emerged as the dominant issue among Asian American voters, with 90% saying the issue was very or extremely important in determining how they vote.

Health care followed at 82%, while jobs and unemployment and Social Security and Medicare each registered at 80%.

Education was cited by 79% as very or extremely important, followed by crime and public safety and war and foreign policy, both at 78%. Racism, racial discrimination and hate crimes registered at 73%, immigration at 68%, and abortion and reproductive rights at 61%.

Among Pacific Islander voters, 89% said cost of living and inflation was very or extremely important.

Survey finds Democratic advantage in current vote preferences

The survey also measured current congressional vote preferences. Among respondents, 60% said they preferred a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, compared with 24% who preferred a Republican candidate. For the U.S. House, 64% preferred a Democratic candidate and 22% a Republican candidate.

The survey found that the Democratic advantage extended across most Asian American ethnic groups, although the size of the gap varied.

For Senate races, Democratic support ranged from 42% among Filipino voters to 66% among Asian Indian voters. Filipino respondents were the only ethnic group in the survey in which Republican preference, at 49%, exceeded Democratic preference, at 42%.

Independent voters also represented a significant constituency. Among independents surveyed, 54% preferred the Democratic Senate candidate compared with 18% who preferred the Republican candidate. For House races, 51% preferred the Democratic candidate and 20% the Republican candidate.

These figures represent survey respondents’ current preferences, not election outcomes or forecasts.

Many voters report little contact from political parties

Despite the growing size of the electorate, the survey suggests that many AAPI voters remain relatively unreached by political parties.

Forty-two percent of respondents said they had received no contact from the Democratic Party, while 58% said they had received no contact from the Republican Party.

Community organizations appear to have a substantial presence. Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported some contact with community organizations, roughly the same share reporting contact from the Democratic Party.

The survey also found that family and friends were the most trusted messengers, cited by 62% of respondents, followed by academic experts at 60%. Community journalists were trusted by 50%, while AAPI community-serving organizations were trusted by 47%.

Among Pacific Islander adults, trust in AAPI community-serving organizations was particularly high, at 59%, compared with 45% among Asian Americans.

Television and YouTube lead as news sources

The survey found that television was the most commonly used news source among AAPI adults, cited by 47%, followed closely by YouTube at 43%.

Newspapers and news websites and Facebook were each cited by 35% of respondents. Only 5% said they did not regularly use any news source.

News consumption also varied between Asian American and Pacific Islander respondents. Pacific Islanders reported higher use of Facebook, radio and TikTok, while Asian Americans were more likely to rely on newspapers and news websites.

Overall, 78% of respondents said they consume news primarily in English. Another 16% consume news in both English and another language, while 6% primarily consume news in another language.

Among foreign-born respondents, the share relying primarily on English fell to 67%, with 23% consuming news in both English and another language.

A growing electoral force

The survey comes as the AAPI electorate continues to grow and become more geographically significant in competitive elections.

In the 2024 election, AAPI voters represented 12% of the eligible electorate in Nevada, 4.4% in Arizona, 4.2% in Georgia, 3.3% in Pennsylvania, and 3% in Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin, according to the survey background data.

The survey notes that AAPI voters also represent consequential shares of eligible voters in competitive congressional districts across states including Arizona, California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The Asian American Voter Survey, launched in 2014, is conducted during election years to examine the views, priorities and voting plans of registered AAPI voters.

For the 2026 survey, researchers drew respondents from a national voter file and used additional data to identify likely Asian American voters and their ethnicities. The study included 1,896 Asian American respondents and 170 Pacific Islander respondents.

Interviews were conducted from June 3 through July 27, 2026, using a combination of telephone, MMS-to-web and online recruitment. Researchers said the methodology was designed to produce population-representative results and included weighting and evaluation of potential nonresponse bias.