Trump’s unpopularity rises among Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, poll finds
About 7 in 10 such independents have a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ unfavourable opinion of Trump, up about 20 percentage points since December
The percentage of Asian-American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders with an unfavourable opinion of Trump rose to 71 per cent in July, from 60 per cent in December, according to a national survey by AAPI Data and the Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research.
Notably, AAPI adults who describe themselves as independent are especially likely to have cooled on the president. About 7 in 10 AAPI independents have a “very” or “somewhat” unfavourable opinion of Trump, up roughly 20 percentage points since December.
The poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian-American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, whose views are usually not highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.
AAPI independents’ unfavourable view of Trump is higher than his unfavourable rating among independent adults overall, which was 52 per cent in a June AP-NORC poll, having nudged slightly higher from 44 per cent in December.
Economic concerns could be playing a central role. About 8 in 10 AAPI adults expect Trump’s tariff policies will increase the cost of consumer goods, the poll found, while only about 4 in 10 think those policies will boost domestic manufacturing and just 2 in 10 anticipate more US jobs as a result.