Nearly two-thirds of Asian American voters in California supported Proposition 30 in this month's election, following the historical trends that show Asian Americans are willing to raise taxes on the wealthy to close budget holes, according to preliminary findings from a post-election poll released Wednesday.

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) conducted a statewide poll of Asian American voters who participated in the Nov. 6 election. The final survey results will be published in summer 2013.

About 65 percent of Asian American voters supported Prop 30, which increases taxes on earnings ABOVE $250,000 for seven years and sales taxes by 0.25 percent for four years. Prop 30 will raise $6 to $9 billion to fund K-12 and community college education. Meanwhile, 76 percent of Asian American voters supported increasing state personal income taxes on the wealthy.

Stewart Kwoh, APALC president, said the wealthy and businesses are in a better position to bear the responsibility of taxation. He also said the data shows Asian Americans support President Obama’s taxation policies, and 70 percent voted for him in the presidential election.

“Asian and Pacific Islanders are concerned about the economy and unemployment,” Kwoh said, “They suffered a great deal in the recession.”

The poll also addressed immigration  and About 82 percent of Asian American voters in California voiced the importance of immigration in their views about the presidential candidates. Seventy-six percent showed support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a recent executive order by President Obama that grants two-year work permits and temporary deferral from deportation to people under the age of 31 and came to the country without documentation as children.

The statewide post-election poll is being conducted in English, Spanish and seven Asian languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Preliminary findings were based on an early sample of nearly 1,800 Asian American voters in the state. The poll will have surveyed about 10,000 voters and 5,000 Asian American voters in California when completed this month.

In the video below produced by reporter Graham Clark Stecklein, 75-year-old Manok Cha discusses why her face lit up when she voted for the first time in her life this year.

Reach Staff reporter Shako Liu here. Follow her on Twitter here.