"We have an incredible amount of regulations that are hampering job growth," Chao said. "For Asian-Americans, in particular, this is very important."

In particular, Obama's Affordable Care Act is restraining small business owners from expanding their business, she said, as they are worried about healthcare costs they might incur under the new regulations.

Untapped Political Force

This election year, the needs and influence of Asian Americans have become more prominent than ever. In the winner-take-all Electoral College system of American politics, Asian Americans have become very influential in the eight states where they make up a significant population, including New York, California, Florida and Texas, Chao said, citing a June report by Pew Research on the Asian-American community. However, Asian-American voters in general tend to inactive politically, she said, or vote Democrat.

The Asian-American population, including foreign born and U.S. born, reached a record 18.2 million in 2011, or 5.8 percent of the total U.S. population, up from less than 1 percent in 1965, according to Pew. Though there are some divisions—Vietnamese tend to vote Republican, the Japanese and Indian populations vote Democrat and the Chinese are evenly divided—most Asian Americans tend to support the current administration, Chao said.

"I'm always surprised, it's always interesting to me when I see Asians who are Democrats," Chao said, "because Asian-Americans are generally very hard-working, they emphasize education, they emphasize opportunity and many of them are small business [owners]. The Republican philosophy of lower taxes, less government, less red-tape bureaucracy and more responsibility in fiscal matters are natural issues that resound with the Asian-American community."

According to Pew, Asian Americans are the best-educated, highest-income, fastest-growing racial group in the country. Asians recently passed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States and nearly three-quarters of Asian-American adults were born abroad. Asian-American communities are concentrated in urban areas, Chao said, which tends to influence their voting patterns.

"In the areas that Asian-Americans are located, like California and New York, it is so heavily Democrat that you do get influenced by your neighbors. If most of your neighbors are Democrat and you're new to the block, you don't want to be the one person who is different," Chao said.

Asian Americans are more likely to support a large, activist government and less likely to identify as Republicans, according to Pew. Only 28 percent of respondents identify with or lean toward the Republican party, while half identify or lean Democratic. Some 54 percent of respondents approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, compared with 44 percent of the general public.

Yet many conservative voices in the Asian-American community may not be heard, Chao suggested. Recent immigrants in particular, who are small business owners or working long hours at a job, may not find time to vote.

"For Asian-Americans, voting for a president who can make this economy better is very important," Chao said, "because most of us want opportunity. We came to this country for opportunity and we want opportunities for our children."

Heavy-handed government policies have increased taxes and hurt the country's credit rating, Chao added, making it difficult for small business owners to succeed.

"America should not look toward Western Europe as an example--which this administration is doing, they think that Western Europe is the ideal. I say, look at Asia. Learn from Asia, because they are the emerging economies that will be most competitive in the world," Chao said. "Just from economic issues, most Asian-Americans should vote for Governor Romney because he has the experience and past record of achieving job creation."

The author is a freelance writer living in New York City