The Democratic Party is losing the Asian American vote.
Although this influential demographic previously leaned heavily towards the left, recent trends show changing priorities within this voter bloc, according to a recent New York Times report.
Asian Americans have the power to play a pivotal role in the upcoming elections as they become increasingly politically active, as seen in part by the growing number of Asian American elected officials, like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Republican California Rep. Young Kim. Or the possible 2024 matchup between Nikki Haley, who has already announced her bid for president, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is likely to stay on President Joe Biden’s ticket.
On the voters’ side, Asian Americans, now made up of over 18 million voters, are increasingly participating in elections. In 2014, 28% of the Asian American community voted but the number rose to 42% four years later, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Meanwhile, in the last presidential election in 2020, U.S. Census Bureau data showed that 60% of Asian Americans cast their vote, a percentage lower than the turnout among “African Americans but higher than that of Latinos,” the article stated.
“Asian Americans, especially new voters, were part of the record turnout of communities of color in the 2020 elections. Asian American voters played an important role in close races in several battleground states, and our voices must not be overlooked in the political process,” said Margaret Fung, the executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, at the time.
Asian American voters heavily leaned Democratic in the past, partly because the party was touted as the party of immigrants, as Debjyoti Dwivedy, an Indian immigrant and chair of the Minnesota Young Republicans, told me previously.
But the political landscape is changing. For one,…
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