Washington, May 21 (IANS): In the November 2020 US presidential elections, Indian-Americans reported the highest rate of voting at 71 per cent among adult citizens, according to the publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

Japanese Americans came second with 66 per cent, an AAPI Data blog reveals.

"For Indian-Americans, this was a 9 percentage point increase compared to the 2016 election, while for Japanese Americans, the increase was a modest 4 per cent," it said.

The blog further said that the election on November 3, 2020, witnessed a major increase in voter engagement among AAPI community, "building on record gains in voting in the 2018 midterm elections, where midterm voter registration and turnout jumped across every segment, including by nativity, age, gender and geography".

Karthick Ramakrishnan, the Director of AAPI Data, told NPR there was a stark increase in voting among second-generation immigrants, who were born in the US to immigrant parents, The American Bazaar reported.

"This second generation is coming of political age and especially during this moment of Covid and the increase in anti-Asian racism and hate incidents, you are seeing a kind of political consciousness that's forming that will likely last a generation.

"Given the success of Kamala Harris as the highest-ranking Asian American elected official, as well as senators and members of Congress that have done very well over the last decade, we will likely see many more Asian Americans running for office in the future inspired by those examples," he was quoted as saying.