Judy: Turnout typically
determines results in any given
election year and a recent poll,
Asian Americans could sway this
year's midterms more than ever
before.
Our white house correspondent
looks into what is driving these
voters to the polls.
Reporter: Asian Americans are
the fastest-growing racial or
ethnic group in the country.
Nearly 23 million Americans are
estimated to be aapi and their
votes played an outsized role in
the 2020 election in swing
states like your job.
Joining us to discuss this is
Kristin and a public policy
professor at the university of
north -- of California
Riverside.
In addition to Georgia, where
could aapi voters have the
biggest impact?
>> There are several senate
races including in Nevada and
North Carolina and in virtually
any state where there -- where
the margin of victory is 2% or
smaller.
Chances are the Asian American
and pacific island community
will play a decisive role.
Beyond the senate, there are
several house races including in
Orange county in southern
California and several other
districts through the south and
in the northeast that have
significant Asian American and
pacific island populations that
are rated as battleground races.
Those are all the places where
we can expect the Asian American
and pacific island community to
play an important role this
year.
Reporter: Christine, the survey
shows aapi voters preferred
democratic control of congress
but within that, Vietnamese
voters favor Republicans 40% to
35% which gets at the fact that
the aapi is diverse.
Can you explain what is drawing
the Vietnamese voters to
Republicans?
>> They appeal especially to the
first generation immigrants in
the Vietnamese community about
anti-communism.
It is really that early
engagement that has really
developed the relationship with
the Vietnamese community.
What we have seen in the Asian
American voter survey is a
larger segment of the Vietnamese
population, though they are
still heavily Republicans, are
starting to identify as
Independence.
-- Independents.
That is a start of seeing the
second generation and younger
voters coming of age and
registering and voting.
Reporter: What issues are
motivating aapi voters to turn
out?
>> Several issues are standard.
Not only with respect to Asian
American and pacific islander
voters but voters more
generally.
The economy is usually one of
the top two issues in any year
we have done the serving of
these populations.
And that is true of this year as
well.
What was interesting in our
survey was health care emerged
as a top issue.
We did not ask specifically
about abortion.
Other surveys including from the
pew research center shows Asian
American voters tend to be the
more supportive -- most
supportive in terms of abortion
rights.
That will be an issue as well
the economy but there are issues
like gun control and of our mono
protection that are among the
top five.
Republicans do not enjoy support
in the Asian American--
reporter: The rise of Asian
American hate in the U.S. Has
grown in the last five years.
In the survey, 73 percent of
Asian Americans worry about
experiencing hate crimes,
harassment and discrimination
sometimes.
24% of them worry about it
often.
How is that it -- how is that
influencing the vote?
>> Among those very worried
about hate incidents and crimes,
they have a stronger support for
the democratic party.
What that suggests is this is a
top of mind issue in so many
Asian American communities and
in ways that benefit the
democratic party and candidates.
What is interesting is some
Republican candidates are trying
to frame it as about crime to
try to gain an upper hand among
Asian American voters on that
issue.
As long as Asian Americans
perceive these as acts of
discrimination and of hate,
chances are the democratic party
is more likely to benefit.
Reporter: Since 2018, there has
been more attention paid to aapi
voters and their influence in
the electorate.
Can you explain how the parties
are improving or not there
research?
>> We have been researching this
since the 2012 survey.
It has not changed that much.
Still over 50% of the community
is not being contacted by the
Democrats or the Republicans.
We know they are chipping away
and improving every cycle.
This cycle we are also seeing
there are more Asian American
organizers that are being hired
by both parties.
There are more investments in
terms of direct mail, phone
banking and canvassing as well
as engagement with the ethnic
press.
This also demonstrates when you
look at how many of the Asian
American electorate identify
with the parties, it ranges from
20% as high as 43% for the
chinese-american community.
What that tells me as the
parties are not doing enough to
educate our community and do
long-term engagement with our
community past the elections.
Reporter: What do we know so far
about youth voter turnout among
the aapi voters?
>> We saw a record increase
particularly among younger
voters, 18-35.
These tend to be the most
Progressive voters on a range of
issues.
A big question will be, will the
youth turnout and match what we
saw in 2018?
On one hand you have issues like
abortion, reproductive rights,
student debt that might motivate
them to vote but inflation and
economic difficulties may
demobilize some of those voters
as well so that will be an
important question in this
election in terms of what youth
turnout will look like because
that will have an impact in
terms of what the overall level
of democratic versus Republican
support will look like in this
election.
Reporter: Thank you for your
time.