Poll: US split on rise of Covid-based anti-Asian American bias

A protest in San Francisco against increasing hate attacks on Asians as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. SCREENGRAB

SAN FRANCISCO — Americans are split along partisan lines over the issue of Covid-19 pandemic-based discrimination against Asian Americans, according to an April 2020 Harris Poll. A closer look at this problem reveals partisanship with what should be a non-partisan issue.

Six in ten (61%) of Democrats and less than one-third (31%) of Republicans feel hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans has risen since the COVID-19 outbreak.   Four in ten (42%) of Independents feel discrimination has risen.

In fact, over half (54%) of Republicans think that the hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans has not risen and even more Republicans (56%) say they are not at all or not very concerned about the hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans related to the Coronavirus pandemic.

A quarter (26%) of Democrats and 42% of Independents are not at all or not very concerned about this xenophobia at Asian Americans.

There is an unacknowledged problem with both males and females.

• Less than half of Females (45%) and Males (46%) think hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans has risen.
• And, while a majority of Females (60%) and Males (58%) are concerned about this issue, a disconcerting number (40% Females/42% Males) are not concerned.

Millennials and Gen Z are once again more woke.

• The 18-34 age group were significantly more likely to say that hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans has risen (53%)
• Two-thirds (66%) of 18-34 year-olds say they are concerned about this hate/discrimination, which is also considerably higher than the other age groups.

Call to action, Raise Awareness.

• As expected, the Asian American community is worried.  Three-quarters (75%) of Asian Americans are concerned about hate/discrimination towards Asian Americans related to the coronavirus pandemic, while only 55% of whites say the same vs 67% of African-Americans and 65% of Hispanics.
• Of those that were aware of the rise in hate towards Asian Americans, a large majority (82%) said they were concerned.
• This includes nearly seven in ten (68%) of Republicans who say they’ve seen a rise in hate/discrimination towards Asian American being concerned along with 88% of Democrats and 82% of Independents who acknowledged the problem and have expressed concern.

Methodology
Wave 8 of The Harris Poll COVID-19 Tracker was conducted online on April 18-20, 2020 among 2,029 U.S. adults.