Asian Voters Increase Support for Trump Over Immigration Concerns
Asian voters who chose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in this election significantly increased compared to 2016, with many echoing the same reasons behind their switch: Dissatisfaction with the border, inflation and global conflicts.
Donald Trump built a diverse coalition that propelled the former president to an electoral blowout, adding nearly 9 million more votes than he won in 2016. Among these gains were significant increases in support from Latino, Asian, and Gen Z voters.
Asian voters supported Trump by 38%, a nine-point increase from 2016 and a five-point increase from 2020, according to Edison Research exit polls.
Jobs, inflation, crime, education, housing costs, and immigration ranked as the top issues Asian voters cared about most, according to findings from the bi-annual Asian American Voter Survey by AAPI and AARP, which polled 2,479 respondents. Among them, 71% identified immigration as "extremely" or "very" important.
“We shouldn’t let these illegal immigrants in,” said Jun Xu, a real estate agent in Brooklyn’s Eighth Avenue neighborhood, home to many new immigrants from China. “They don’t work. The stuff they do cannot be called jobs.”
However, undocumented immigrants pay about 26% of their income in taxes—on par with the median taxpayer—according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
“I have never heard of that. I won’t believe it unless you show me,” Xu said. “Even if they do—the new people that came in the last couple of years don’t have a tax ID. They are definitely not paying taxes, he insisted.”
How many migrants have arrived in NYC over the past two years? There are some grim numbers on how many have actually found jobs. We also should add here that Trump has promised to deport illegal migrants and seal the southern border – and that he helped kill a border bill earlier this year to keep the issue a top election issue.
“All I saw was the New York government providing food for illegal immigrants that came from the southern border and living in hotels costing several hundred dollars a night,” Xu added. He claimed this information came from a real estate client considering converting their hotel property into shelters. When asked for proof, Xu said the client did not pursue the project.
Trump’s administration plans to prioritize the deportation of undocumented Chinese nationals, particularly men of military age, citing national security concerns, according to NBC News.
A former Harris campaign leader highlighted immigration in a Fox News interview. Lindy Li, a DNC finance member born in Chengdu, China, said Trump understands the need for secure borders.
“I’m speaking as a naturalized American myself. My family waited in line. I didn’t storm the southern border. We came through JFK airport. No one is entitled to be American. Being American is a privilege, not a right,” Li said.
At a "Get Out the Vote" event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, weeks before the election, Donald Trump Jr. told rally attendees that Americans are not misled by the “Chinese Virus.”
“I can’t accept being called that,” Xu said. “But theoretically, it could exist. Like the Spanish flu.”
Similar sentiments were reflected in the voter survey. Over two-thirds (68%) of Asian American voters reported worrying about hate crimes, harassment, and discrimination, but this concern ranked lower than immigration as a priority.
Still, his shift took many by surprise. “Among Asian American voters, Harris leads Trump by 38 points,” noted a press release by APIAVote, citing a September survey.
Tatsu Ikeda, a Japanese American small business owner specializing in internet services, splits his time between Forest Hills in Queens, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, and he was among the Trump supporters.
He believes Democrats allowed – too many illegal immigrants from Latin countries to enter the US.
On race, he said he doesn’t think Trump is racist, adding, “Americans always love the Japanese, perhaps not so much for others.”
During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly relocated and detained approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. According to the 1940 Census, this represented over 90% of the Japanese American population on the mainland U.S. at the time.
(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)