Trump spurring Asian-Americans’ embracement of Democratic Party

Attacks on China, deportation talk stir alienation

LAS VEGAS — On paper at least, Asian-Americans seem like perfect Republicans. Many are small-business owners. Their communities tend to be more culturally conservative. And a lot of them, having fled oppressive communist governments, found comfort in the Republican Party’s aggressive anti-communist policies.

But in what could be a significant realignment of political allegiance, AsianAmericans are identifying as Democrats at a quicker pace than any other ethnic group. Many Republicans worry this election will only accelerate that trend.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is not helping. His attacks on the Chinese — which he has sometimes delivered in a crude, mocking accent — are a feature of his populist campaign. He has suggested cutting off immigration from the Philippines, citing fears that the longtime U.S. ally poses the same national security threat as countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

Trump’s talk of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants has also stirred up painful memories among a group that has been singled out under U.S. law before, whether by the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred the immigration of Chinese laborers until 1943, or by the internment of JapaneseAmericans during World War II.

“It’s like we’re going back in time,” said Marc Matsuo of Las Vegas, who grew up in Hawaii with parents of Japanese ancestry and recalled how his family used to feel uncomfortable expressing their heritage. He now helps register AsianAmericans to vote. “I was always brought up that you don’t talk about religion, you don’t talk about politics. Not anymore.”

Though Asian-Americans are still just 4 percent of the overall eligible voting population, their political power is concentrated in important swing states like Nevada and Virginia, where both parties have been building efforts to reach out.

A national survey in the spring by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, a nonpartisan research group, showed “a significant leftward shift” since 2012 among Asian-American registered voters, with 47 percent now identifying with the Democratic Party, compared with 35 percent in 2012. Fifteen percent identified as Republican.

A Pew Research Center report last month showed that Asian-Americans have since 2008 embraced the Democratic Party at a faster rate than any other ethnic group.

Isaac Brekken / New York Times Volunteers work the phones in a get-out-the-vote effort at the Asian Community Development Council in Las Vegas. The Asian-American population is small, but its political power is concentrated in swing states.