Survey: AAPI community feels pessimistic heading into the US presidential elections

Is US democracy working well? Survey shows the AAPI community doesn’t think so | Photo by Edmond Dantès/Pexels

It seems that the US government needs to wake up as well as double their efforts in raising voter turnout for next year, especially among the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

A recent survey shows that the AAPI community are feeling pessimistic about the state of politics and democracy ahead of the presidential primaries and caucuses.

The survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AAPI Data showed that “68 percent of people within AAPI communities, including 6 in 10 Democrats, believe the country is heading in the wrong direction” and “just 1 in 10 AAPI adults believe democracy is functioning well”—a concerning statistic despite “another 47 percent say it is functioning somewhat well.”

This survey traces it back to low confidence in the people running government institutions, with only 17 percent expressing confidence in their state government. Federal institutions fared worse with roughly 1 in 10 or only 12 percent confident for the Supreme Court, 11 percent for the executive branch, and a mere four percent for Congress.  

Other reasons include concerns over electoral manipulation tactics such as voter misinformation at a high 83 percent, voter suppression at 46 percent, limitations on free speech at 41 percent, and voter fraud at 31 percent. 

Both political parties’ presidential nomination processes aren’t inspiring much confidence either, with the survey revealing that only 27 percent are confident in the Democrats’ process and 20 percent for the Republicans.’

The survey was composed of voters from the AAPI, with 52 percent identifying as Democrats, 27 percent as Republican, and one in five or 21 percent as independent or have no party attachment. AAPI adults under 30 were found to be more skeptical of both parties, with 38 percent of them having no trust in either. 

Will political parties heed these survey results based on the answers of 1,113 American AAPI voters as warnings for potentially big consequences in the next US presidential election? Or will Americans continue to be disenchanted and dissatisfied by the electoral process until 2024?