By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
A recent survey reveals that Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters’ top concerns are healthcare and the state of the economy.
The Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center collaborated to create the survey, which it released earlier this week. The survey explored public opinion on topics relevant to the upcoming midterm elections, including AAPIs’ feelings about President Donald Trump and his administration.
In partnership with the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIA Vote), and the Asian American Journalists Association, AAPI Data’s executive director and founder, Karthick Ramakrishnan, and University of Maryland professor Janelle Wong hosted a webinar on Oct. 20 to discuss the survey’s findings with a panel of speakers.
Ramakrishnan said that more than 1,000 people took part in the survey, which took place in September, and was administered in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Korean.
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng—who serves New York’s sixth district and chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus—emphasized the importance of showing up to the polls and of surveys such as this one.
“It’s essential to have data on our communities because we cannot address a problem we do not see or hear,” she said. Meng said that the findings of the survey were clear: 89% of respondents cited the economy as their most important voting issue, while 83% said their greatest concern was cost of living. “It has become glaringly obvious to our communities that President Trump has not delivered on his promise to ‘immediately bring prices down starting on day one.’”
Ramkrishnan noted that “healthcare also matters.” He called it a “sleeper issue” because it repeatedly comes up as a high-priority issue for AAPIs, but is not covered by the media. However, he said, it is “pretty remarkable” that healthcare continues to come up again and again, despite competing with high-profile news items like the war in Iran and the economy.
But despite not necessarily being top of mind for AAPIs, the war in Iran may have had some impact. Since the start of the war in late February, Trump’s approval rate has dropped among AAPI Republicans, falling from 80% to just 58% this year alone.
In fact, all of the numbers relating to how the Trump administration is handling key issues were “underwater.” According to some polls, Trump has only a 22% approval rating on the economy, 25% on healthcare, 22% on foreign policy, and 32% on immigration.
As for how Trump is handling the job as president overall, 25% of AAPIs polled approve, and 31% of Americans overall. In general, AAPIs trust Democrats more than Republicans. This gap has widened, Ramakrishnan explained.
This Democratic advantage though is lower amongst Pacific Islanders and Filipinos. Whereas surveys used to see more Vietnamese Americans identifying as Republican, it is now more Filipinos.
In Ramakrishan’s opinion, this might have something to do with the “religiosity” of Pacific Islander and Filipino communities, and recent approval by Filipinos of former Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte could be seen as having a similar leadership style to Trump, he said.
Most respondents did not see the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a deal breaker. This was the same in 2024, Ramakrishnan said. Many more AAPIs in the October survey said that they would not vote for a candidate that they disagreed with on racism and discrimination, while a disagreement about the Israeli Palestinian issue would not necessarily sway their vote.
Crime is a low-priority issue in the AAPI community, based on this survey. The survey also showed that a majority of AAPI adults get their news from liberal news outlets.
“The data shows very clearly,” stressed Gregg Orton, NCAPA’s national director, “that … we all care about a number [of issues]. But when a family is confronted with the reality of, ‘We don’t have enough money to put food on the table, to afford our home, to provide health insurance or a good education for our kids,’ that tends to rise to the top of all other priorities.”
Sunita Siraji, health editor at American Community Media, pointed out that concerns about healthcare are likely linked to the start of the Public Charge Rule, which went into effect on Sept. 18. The rule states that federal officials can take into account a person’s disability or lack of financial resources when considering whether to grant them a green card or citizenship.
Christine Chen, executive director of APIA Vote.
APIA Vote Executive Director Christine Chen spoke about her organization’s efforts to ensure voters feel safe at the polls, including through phone banking, text banking, and digital advertisements. Due to government funding cuts, there is less money available for these efforts than usual.
Chen also highlighted that there is a hotline for people to call with questions about voting: 1-888-API VOTE.
“We’re at a critical moment in our country and especially for our communities,” said Ramakrishnan.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
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