Republicans are looking to Asian Americans to buoy their results at the ballot box next month after ramping up outreach efforts as part of a broader endeavor by the party to win over more non-White voters from Democrats.
The strategy, which the GOP has used for other demographics that favor Democrats such as Hispanic and Black voters, appears likely to pay off.
Polling suggests that Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), the fastest-growing group of voters who could help determine key Senate and House races, have swung toward the GOP by double digits since 2016.
President Biden won Asian American voters handily by a 27-point margin in 2020, according to exit polling. However, that was down from the 38-point margin Hillary Clinton won in 2016, and President Obama’s 47-point margin in 2012.
Since the 2020 election, the Republican National Committee has opened community centers targeting AAPI voters in California, Texas, Nevada, Washington and Georgia. The on-the-ground outreach, which consists of relationship building, voter registration and other get-out-the-vote efforts, is “paying huge dividends,” the RNC says.
Similar GOP outreach campaigns have shifted Hispanic voters toward Republicans by roughly 15 percentage points in the past decade.
Republicans have seen a net gain of seven percentage points with AAPI voters since 2020, narrowing what was once the Democratic Party’s wide margin, according to a poll this month from a coalition of left-leaning activist groups. The survey showed that while Democrats have a sizable lead, 51% to 36%, among AAPI voters over Republicans, the GOP has seen a net gain of 14 percentage points since 2016.
“Even far-left polls are showing that the Asian Pacific American community is abandoning Democrats because Democrats abandoned APA voters on inflation, gas prices, and crime,” RNC Director of Asian Pacific American Media Nainoa Johsens said in a statement. “The RNC has invested millions in authentically engaging and earning votes by opening five RNC APA community centers months before the midterms while Democrats were nowhere to be found.”
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
The inroads made by the GOP with Asian American voters could have far-reaching consequences at the ballot box for Democrats.
More than 13.3 million Asian Americans are projected to be eligible to vote this year, up 9% from 2018, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. While they make up 5.5% of all voters nationwide, they account for more than 10% of the electorate in the critical state of Nevada, where Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is battling for reelection.
In Georgia, where another pivotal Senate race could determine control of the chamber, there are more than 253,000 eligible AAPI voters.
Roughly a third of residents in California’s 45th Congressional District are Asian, where Republican incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel, a Korean American, is facing Democratic challenger Jay Chen, a Taiwanese American, in what is a toss-up race.
Asian Americans experienced a surge in hate crimes against them after the rise of COVID-19, which originated in China. Democrats and anti-Asian hate groups laid blame on GOP rhetoric about China and the pandemic, such as former President Donald Trump dubbing the disease “the China virus.”
The nonprofit organization Stop AAPI Hate released a report this month that warned politicians ahead of the midterms against using inflammatory remarks on China in the context of COVID-19, national security and the economy.
“Our research has found that perpetrators of hate incidents toward Asians and Asian Americans repeat rhetoric they hear from candidates and elected officials blaming China for public health crises, for economic downturns and for national security concerns,” the group’s report said.
Republicans vehemently reject the notion they played any part in such physical and verbal attacks, and they accuse Democrats of trying to take political advantage of such hate crimes. Republicans have also hammered Democrats over crime on the campaign trail by touting a law-and-order platform.
The GOP argues its outreach efforts are working, pointing to the recent trends among AAPI voters toward the party.
“On Nov. 8, those investments are going to pay massive dividends,” the RNC’s Mr. Johsens said.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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