WASHINGTON: About three-in-ten Asian-American eligible voters, including Indian Americans, have cast ballots in midterm elections since 1998, a much lower turnout rate than that of whites and blacks, according to a new report.

With an estimated nine million eligible voters in 2014, the Asian-American electorate for the November Congressional elections makes up 4 percent of all eligible voters, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Pew Research Centre, a Washington think tank.

By contrast, Hispanics - the largest minority group - today make up 11.3 percent of all eligible voters. But Asian Americans recently passed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States.

In the run-up to the 2012 president election, some analysts called the Asian-American electorate a potential swing vote, despite its relatively small size, the Pew report noted.

Among registered voters who didn't go to the polls in 2010 elections, Asian-Americans were most likely to say they were too busy to vote, the survey said.

About 37 percent of Asian Americans chose "Too busy, conflicting work or school schedule," as a reason for not voting, compared with about one-in-four Hispanics, whites and blacks, it said.

The six largest groups among Asian-Americans by country of origin are Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese.
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