AAPI women hold major voting power in U.S.
It is hard to understate how much the 2018 election, which swapped control of the U.S. House of Representatives, has changed American history. In the tumultuous year and a half since, the House of Representatives has, among other things, impeached the president, explored numerous oversight activities and altered the dynamic of the federal government’s response to a global pandemic.
The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) vote was a vital but often overlooked factor in the 2018 election. The 2014 midterm election saw AAPI voters divided, with 49 percent backing progressive candidates, but in 2018 AAPI support for progressives shot up to 77 percent. As we look ahead to what will surely be another history-altering election this November, it is worth reflecting on how and why elected officials who share our values and priorities retook the House two years ago.
Significant increases in AAPI voter turnout likely contributed to the “blue wave” that swept Southern California in 2018. Texas had one of the biggest gains in AAPI voter turnout from 2014 to 2018. Difference-making states for the Democrats like California, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia — where 17 seats went from red to blue — are home to some of our country’s largest and fastest growing Asian American populations. Yet despite this growing electoral power, the priorities of AAPI people remain an afterthought for both parties.
The U.S. Asian population grew 72 percent between 2000 and 2015 (from 11.9 million to 20.4 million), the fastest growth of any major racial or ethnic group, but our communities still lack the critical investments required for us to thrive. In part, this is because Asian Americans are frequently stereotyped as high achieving “model minorities,” a myth that buries the diversity of our community and gives elected officials an excuse to set aside our priorities and lives.
When the needs of a community are overlooked, it is a safe bet that the needs of women in that community will be ignored entirely.
In a 2019 poll, 74 percent of AAPI voters said that their elected officials need to understand that their priorities are not the same as those of white women. Just as many agreed that too often candidates running for office fail to acknowledge what matters most to them. This poll put numbers to what advocates have known for some time: Communities of color are not a monolith, but we have similarities in our values and priorities that are distinct from the majority.
In that same poll, AAPI women voters said that candidates should support allowing women to make their own decisions about their reproductive health, and that having agency over their reproductive lives would lead to healthier families with higher quality of life for children and greater economic opportunities and financial stability.
Unsurprisingly, AAPI women voters also believe everyone should have access to health care.
Right now, immigrants have to navigate a patchwork of health care options designed by policymakers willing to let families fall through the cracks. Immigrants have to wait five years before they’re allowed to enroll in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, they chose to block undocumented immigrants from being able to buy plans at all. As a result, 49 percent of Asian non-citizens are uninsured and 28 percent of lawfully present immigrants are uninsured — a much higher percentage than the national average.
For far too long, AAPI women have had our needs ignored and even traded away for laws that were written without our participation. But the status quo is on its way out. Asian Americans will constitute nearly 10 percent of eligible voters by 2036 and we are engaging in politics more than ever.
The 2018 midterms saw historic turnout of women of color. In Texas, 1.2 million black, Latina and AAPI women turned out — twice as many as in 2014. In California, turnout of eligible AsianAmerican voters nearly doubled from 2014, as well.
AAPI women voters want to see leadership that doesn’t take us for granted and delivers on the issues that we care about. We are realizing our power at the polls — but will our candidates?