In The Know: 2.6 million Filipino-Americans

There are around 2.6 million Filipino-Americans in the United States, according to the US 2010 census.

The number represents those who refer to themselves as “Filipino only” in response to the census, making them the third-largest Asian group, next to the Chinese (3.3 million) and the Asian-Indians (2.8 million).

When the count for “mixed-race Filipinos” is taken into consideration, the figure for Filipinos is at 3.4 million, making them the second-largest Asian group, next to the Chinese (4 million).

The general voting record of Filipino-Americans in US elections has been said to be abysmal and Fil-Am voter apathy continues to be a challenge.

The National Federation of Filipino-American Associations has implemented  a get-out-the-vote program to encourage Fil-Am voters to participate in the electoral process.

Most likely to vote

Results of the National Asian American Survey (NAAS) conducted through Sept. 19, 2012, showed that:

— 52 percent of Fil-Ams are most likely to vote.

— Among likely voters, 43 percent of Asian-Americans support Barack Obama while 24 percent support Mitt Romney.

There are some considerable differences among ethnic groups, with Indian-Americans showing the strongest support for Obama (68 percent), and Fil-Ams showing the strongest support for Romney (38 percent).

Significant shift

In a significant shift from prior surveys, Fil-Ams who identify themselves as Republicans outnumber those who identify themselves as Democrats.

Indeed, Fil-Ams now have the highest proportion of those who identify themselves as Republican among Asian-Americans, a designation that has applied to Vietnamese-Americans ever since public opinion polling has been conducted.

Approval of Obama’s job is particularly high among Indian-Americans (82 percent), and is conspicuously low among Fil-Ams (45 percent).

Sources: naffaausa.org, https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf, https://www.naasurvey.com/resources/Home/NAAS12-sep25-election.pdf