A poll from CNN confirms fears even among leading Asian American democrats that their support is slipping in their own community.
The poll shows that while support for Democrats among Asian American voters remains strong, Republicans picked up 17 percent support in the 2022 midterm elections.
Asian American voted for Democratic candidates over Republicans 77% to 23% in the presidential election in 2020 when Trump was on the ballot. By 2022, that margin slipped to 58% to 40 percent.
As early as November of 2021, Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) warned her party it needed to pay closer attention to Asian American voters.
“Our party better start giving more of a shit about #aapi voters and communities,” she said two days after the New York mayoral election which showed Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa winning 44 percent of the vote in precincts that were majority Asian, reported Bloomberg Government.
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Although the Guardian Angels leader did not win, his support among Asians appeared to be higher than even that of Whites, and of Blacks and Hispanics.
AsAmNews also interviewed Brad Jenkins, head of the progressive AAPI Victory Fund, just days before the midterm in November and he appeared uncertain how strongly Asian American voters would come out for Democratic candidates.
“I actually do think you’re gonna see an uptick in voting among Asian Americans, whether they’re voting for Democrats at the same level that they were last (midterm)cycle will be, you know, TBD,” he said to AsAmNews.
Some feel the Democrats need to redirect their attention toward issues voters care about and not policy issues that fit a political agenda.
“I see this frustration with the direction of the party,” said Charles Jung, a civil rights attorney and local Bay Area advocate said to CNN. “Asian Americans feel like Democrats are focused on the wrong things, that they’ve let ideology run amok. If Democrats don’t redouble their efforts to focus on core Democratic issues, they will lose people of color over time.”
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Grace Meng is right. Democrats are not actively creating programs and opportunities for the Asian American community. Democrat leaders are not standing up for Asian Americans from being excluded from support programs, ranked down in college admissions, or restricted from buying property. At rallies and debates, Democrat candidates talk about supporting “Black and Brown” communities while mentioning programs that Asians are excluded from and pointing to areas with low Asian residency. At an event to stop Anti-Asian Hate, the Democrat House Representative said he supports suppressing Asian Americans to give more space to “Black and Brown people”. Democrats are staying silent during the constant rhetoric about China/Chinese being the enemy which fuels Anti-Asian hate.
Since neither party is actively pursuing the Asian American vote, some voters are now focusing on the individual candidate instead of the party. Some of the Republican candidates are tapping into the feelings of exclusion, safety concerns, need for financial stability, education access, and other things that many people of Asian descent are concerned about. Time for the Democrats to wake up!