PIVOT, also known as the Progressive Vietnamese American Organization, has been working hard to help educate and work with Vietnamese American communities in combatting voter misinformation.
With an administration in the White House that has polarized many Americans, and an election where all political parties aren’t taking anything for granted, more news has been cast on specific sub-groups in the voting constituency.
One of the groups that has been getting more coverage is the Vietnamese American community because of past support for Republican candidates (54 percent for Romney, 67 percent for McCain), even if slowly dropping. According to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Trump and the Republican party won only 32 percent of the Vietnamese American vote in 2016.
While the reasons for support of Republican candidates has been debated for multiple election cycles (generational, geographical, etc.) and will continue to be debated (along with the general Asian American voting block), PIVOT has been working in the community to help bridge the gaps and understanding between the generations.
Skylar Nguyen told the Sun Herald her family almost came to blows over politics at a family gathering a few months ago. The young first time voters said younger family members talked about the need for stricter regulations to control the coronavirus. Older family members, including some who own small businesses, said the nation has suffered enough.
Older family members also described the Black Lives Matter movement as mostly violent. Younger members described BLM as largely peaceful.
Older family members also dismissed the younger generation as “Democrats.”
In an attempt to bridge the gap, PIVOT has improved not only its Facebook group, it has also created two sites called VietAmVote and Viet Fact Check.
VietAmVote’s mission is to help expand access to voter information for the Vietnamese American community and to provide information in both Vietnamese and English. The site gives information on election news, voter registration, and state deadlines and voting rules.
Viet Fact Check, available in both English and Vietnamese, tries to dispel some of the misconceptions about the Democratic Party and its candidates running for office, as well as claims by the current Trump administration.
The site fact checks questions like “Are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris socialists?” and “Has Trump made money from China during his presidency?” all the way to topics like late-term abortions and whether the Trump administration supports White supremacist groups.
More information can be found at the PIVOT website.
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