Asian-American Vote Could Impact US Election

 　　Asian-Americans have largely been ignored by U.S. politicians, but they could provide a valuable edge in the upcoming presidential election, says new polling data.

　　According to recently released census¹ data, Asian-Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the U.S. population. The population has grown 46 percent since the 2000 census, and Asian-Americans now number more than 17 million nationwide. According to Lake Research, which conducted the poll, Asian-Americans represented two percent of the electorate² in 2008, with 48 percent of eligible³ voters turning out.

　　The polling was conducted in several states, including Florida, Nevada and Virginia, what are likely to be key swing states in the November presidential election.

　　“Every vote counts, especially in a tight election. If Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders vote at the same level they did last time, it could mean increasing margins⁵ for the party they prefer - 47,000 more votes in Virginia than last election, 33,000 more in Florida and 9,000 more in Nevada,” said Christine Chen, acting⁶ executive director of APIAVote, which works to mobilize Asian-American and Pacific Islander voters.

　　“Political leaders must engage this rapidly growing voting bloc⁷ in the conversation. We’re working with dozens of community-based groups to get AAPIs involved in the process, but locally we’ve barely been contacted by either party,” she said.

　　The survey showed Asian-Americans largely tend to identify themselves as Democrats⁸ by more than a three-to-one margin⁴. Fifty-nine percent of Asian-Americans favored U.S. President Barack Obama, while only 13 percent preferred presumed Republican nominee⁹ Mitt¹⁰ Romney. Twenty-seven percent said they were undecided. That Democrat-Republican split remained largely unchanged since the 2008 election.

　　Despite the tendency to favor Democratic candidates, only 23 percent of those surveyed said they’d been contacted by the Democratic Party in the past two years. Only 17 percent said they’d been contacted by the Republican Party.

　　Republican National Committee spokesperson Alexandra Franceschi says the party is ramping¹¹ up its voter contact as it looks towards the general election.

　　"The RNC is committed to engaging as many voters as possible across America. We will be reaching out with our economic message, because all Americans are struggling to make ends meet under the Obama Administration,” she said.

　　The Democratic Party did not return calls, but does have a section on its web page dedicated¹² to Asian-Americans.

　　Asian-American civic¹³ leaders say politicians will be mistaken to ignore their voting bloc.

　　“Since candidates and political parties don’t think—from a national perspective—that the size of our population is significant, they dismiss us,” said Mee Moua, the president and executive director of the Asian-American Justice Center, which works to advance the human and civil rights of Asian Americans. “But what the poll confirmed is that in local, state and congressional races—especially in states with high Asian American concentrations—we have the potential to make a tremendous difference and influence the outcome, so candidates who ignore us do so at their own peril¹⁴.”

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

3 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

4 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

5 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

10 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

11 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

12 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

13 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

14 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。