POLL: 1 OUT OF 3 AAPI PEOPLE FACED RECENT RACIAL ABUSE
51% say racism an ‘extremely (serious),’ ‘very serious’ issue
Despite ongoing advocacy and legislation to combat anti-Asian racism that arose after the pandemic, about a third of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders say they have experienced an act of abuse based on their race or ethnicity in the last year, including being on the receiving end of verbal harassment, slurs, physical threats or cyberbullying.
A new poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 15 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islanders specifically say they believe they have ever been the victim of a hate crime. About half — 51 percent — believe racism is an “extremely (serious)” or “very serious” problem in the U.S.
From as early as a decade ago to as recently as two weeks ago, Jennifer Lee, a 29year-old Filipino American in San Diego, can recall being called racial slurs and being discriminated against. She recently interviewed for a job at a tutoring service.
The interviewer assumed Lee was Japanese and said: “You people are always so obedient. Why? That’s so pathetic,” she shared.
About 2 in 10 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (23 percent) say they have experienced being verbally harassed or abused in the last year, and 22 percent have been called a racial or ethnic slur. About 1 in 10 say they have been physically assaulted or threatened physically. About a third of Asian American and Pacific Islanders say they often or sometimes face discrimination because of their race or ethnicity when applying for jobs.
Last month, the FBI reported an overall 7 percent increase in hate crimes, even as the agency’s data showed
anti-Asian incidents in 2022 were down 33 percent from 2021. That seeming contradiction doesn’t surprise Stephanie Chan, director of data and research at Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group.
“We know that Asian Americans are among the most likely to not report the crime that they’ve experienced,” Chan said. “It’s really sobering to see that even when the world seems to have returned to normal, after the pandemic, these levels are still really elevated in terms of anti-Asian American hate.”
The survey shows how AAPI communities’ perceptions of levels of discrimination runs along political party lines. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say that Asian Americans and other people of color face “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of discrimination and that White Americans do not. Overall, the poll shows about half of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders identify as Democrats and about a quarter lean Republican.
Many Asian American and Pacific Islanders are not optimistic about anti-Asian racism easing in the future. About half believe they are at least somewhat likely to be a victim of discrimination because of their race or ethnicity within the next five years, and 40 percent believe it’s at least somewhat likely
they will be the target of a hate crime based on race or ethnicity within the same period. Of those who have been hate crime victims, 20 percent believe it’s “very” or “extremely likely” to happen again sometime in the next five years.
Still, Chan, of Stop AAPI Hate, hopes this poll lessens people’s ignorance surrounding anti-Asian discrimination. She hopes people will understand it’s more than just hate crimes, which tend to get the most media coverage.
“People’s daily lives are impacted by things like verbal harassment or bullying in schools or online acts of hate or civil rights violations,” Chan said. “Like not even being allowed to dine at a restaurant or stay at a hotel or being rejected for an Uber ride. I would say pay attention to these. These are the experiences that we’re having in America today.”
The poll of 1,178 U.S. adults who are Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders was conducted Oct. 10-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based Amplify AAPI Panel, designed to be representative of the Asian American and Pacific Islander population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.