In the eternal bid for minority votes, Republicans’ attempts have failed: A recent study published by Pew Research Center states that a whopping 88 percent of registered Asian-American voters between the ages of 18–29 said they “identify with or lean to the Democratic Party.” (READ MORE: Vote Every Single Democrat Out in November)
On the whole, Pew’s findings note that 62 percent of registered Asian-American voters “identify with or lean to” the Democratic Party. The only notable exception to the rule seems to be found in Vietnamese Americans, 51 percent of whom “tilt to the GOP.”
These findings appear contradictory with traditional Asian values. According to Charles Murray from the American Enterprise Institute: “Everyday observation of Asians around the world reveal them to be conspicuously entrepreneurial, industrious, family-oriented, and self-reliant. If you’re looking for a natural Republican constituency, Asians should define as ‘natural.’”
Yet, as senior editor for the American Conservative Helen Andrews writes, “Many Asian-Americans are natural conservatives, but that has yet to translate into Republican votes.”
In a response to a New York Times article claiming that the Asian-American vote is shifting toward the Right — based on Asian precincts in New York City — Andrews writes that Republicans have only experienced success with changing the voting patterns of working-class Asians.
“So the rightward swing that the Times identified was concentrated in certain subgroups, namely East Asians and the working class, and was relative to a baseline of massive Democratic support,” Andrews notes. “Not much for Republicans to hang their hats on.”
Findings Reflect Party Realignments
In general, the findings seem to confirm growing conventional wisdom — both parties are experiencing demographic realignments. The Republican Party’s new voting block is older, poorer, and less-educated. The Democratic voting block is richer, younger, and college educated.
Asian Americans with only a high school diploma are split politically, but increasing levels of education override this split, favoring Democrats, according to the study from Pew.
Among the respondents for the Asian-American survey, 86 percent of voters cared about jobs and the economy, and 85 percent of voters cared about crime.
In theory, Republicans’ focus on the rule of law and the economy should prove appealing to most Asian-American voters and bolster the Republican base. However, as Andrews notes, this has not proven to be reality.
“The truth is that Asian voters lean strongly to the left in every English-speaking democracy where they have migrated,” Andrew writes. “In Australia, Indian voters favor left-wing parties by more than 30 points. The gap is even bigger among South Asian voters in Canada. Chinese voters in Canada lean left by a similar margin. Asian voters consistently favor the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.”
Furthermore, groups such as Students for Fair Admissions — an organization dedicated to “eliminat[ing] race and ethnicity from college admissions” — only claim support from a minority of Asian voters. According to NBC News, 69 percent of Asian Americans still favor affirmative action.
Highlighting Republican Policies Is Not Enough
Some assert that the solution includes limits on immigration. It is not enough, argues Andrews, to highlight Republican policies that Asians favor in order to garner their vote.
“Our Asian population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2019 and now tops 24 million,” Andrews notes. “Much of this growth is driven by immigration, in particular from India and China. Our politicians and bureaucrats have made a policy choice to invite millions of new Americans who are statistically likely to favor one political party by huge margins.”
Hope King, a reporter for Axios, writes that the political balance among Asian Americans may tip the other way if given time.
“When looking at the U.S.-born Asian voters, there’s a similar trend: 25% in this segment lean right overall — but for third-generation or higher Asian Americans, the share increases to 40%,” King writes.
However, Andrews notes that time might not be enough to make up for the political disparity.
“Certainly Republicans should continue to point out all the ways our policies are better for Asian voters,” Andrew writes. “But if the best showing we can muster, the kind that makes the New York Times sit up and take notice, is still a double-digit loss in an election where Republican issues like crime were unusually salient, then the real short-sightedness would be to continue importing Democratic voters in the hope that they will start voting Republican eventually.”
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.
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