Asian-American voters spurn Donald Trump and flock to Democrats, survey finds

Asian Americans are increasingly identifying with the Democratic Party as threats by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to deport illegal immigrants drive voters away from the Republicans, researchers have concluded. Their findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,212 registered Asian-American voters, conducted from April 11 to May 17, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 per cent. In a 2012 survey, 35 per cent of Asian Americans identified themselves as Democrats, but this has grown to 47 per cent. The proportion of Asian Americans calling themselves Republicans shrank to 15 per cent from 18 per cent. “Asian Americans are shifting in party identification towards the Democratic Party and exclusionary rhetoric is a likely cause,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPIdata.com (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Data) and a political science professor at the University of California at Riverside. “There’s been a massive shift from one-third [of Asian Americans] voting for Bill Clinton [in the 1990s] to three quarters [voting for] Barack Obama [in 2012],” he said. Chinese Americans are the biggest Asian-American group in the country with nearly 3.8 million people. Filipinos and Indians with 3.4 and 3.2 million respectively. Vietnamese, Koreans and Japanese are all under two million. Some activists say the actual numbers of Chinese and Filipinos are much higher, at five million and 4-4.5 million respectively. About 52 per cent of Chinese Americans do not identify with a party, while 40 per cent say they are Democrat and 8 per cent Republican. Among Filipino Americans, 54 per cent call themselves Democrats, 16 per cent Republicans and 27 per cent do not identify with either party. Asian Americans are anxious about Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president, who has said he would deport illegal migrants en masse. “I would get people out,” Trump declared in an interview with CNN regarding the 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. “We will find and we will get them out.” Some 61 per cent of Asian Americans view Trump unfavourably, compared to 19 per cent who see him favourably. Among those aged 18-34, Trump’s unfavourable number soars to 86 per cent versus 9 per cent who view him favourably. Filipino Americans are the Asian-American voters most likely to favour Trump at 23 per cent, followed closely by Vietnamese and Indian Americans at 22 per cent each. Only 17 per cent of Chinese Americans rate the New York billionaire favourably. Trump is viewed unfavourably by 50 per cent of Chinese Americans, 57 per cent of Vietnamese Americans and 62 per cent of Filipino and Indian Americans. Ramakrishnan said while it is a long way to the November 8 elections, “anti-immigrant and anti-Asian rhetoric is not the way to win” Asian-American voters. In tight, state-by-state battles, the Asian-American vote could prove decisive. That was the case in Virginia, a usually reliable Republican state, which voted for Obama in both 2008 and 2012. The likely Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton is viewed favourably by at least 60 per cent of all Asian-American ethnicities except Filipino Americans, 59 per cent of whom view her positively. She is rated favourably by 61 per cent of Chinese-American voters. Support for President Obama is sky high among Asian Americans, peaking at 83 per cent among ethnic Indians. One striking survey result concerned anti-Muslim rhetoric employed by Trump, who said he would temporarily bar the entry of all Muslims into the US. Some 43 per cent of Asian Americans said they would vote for another candidate if they used such language. The difference in the way the two parties are viewed is notable. The Democratic Party is viewed favourably by 64 per cent of Asian Americans, while 19 per cent view it unfavourably. The unfavourable rating is more than doubled when it comes to the Republican Party, at 46 per cent, while its favourable rating is 31 per cent, less than half that of the Democrats. Yet Chinese Americans had a net favourable opinion of Republicans; 38 per cent saw the party favourably, compared to 30 per cent with a negative view. Some 64 per cent of Filipino Americans have a favourable view of the Democratic Party while the rival Republicans are viewed favourably by 31 per cent. The data showed that rising numbers of young Asian Americans are leaning towards the Democratic Party. Among those 18-34 years old, 77 per cent favoured the Democrats, compared to 12 per cent lining up behind the Republicans. The survey organisers said that voting preferences formed by young Asian Americans are likely to become locked in for life.