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Election preview: The top issues driving Asian American voters to the polls

Health care, crime, jobs, and education are on voters’ minds as they head to the ballot box, according to the 2022 Asian American Voter Survey.
A "vote here" sign. Photo courtesy of Erik Hersman via Flickr.
Photo courtesy of Erik Hersman via Flickr.

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More than two-thirds of registered Asian American voters are planning to vote in this year's midterm elections, and projected high voter turnout could swing close races in several battleground districts. Here's what you need to know.

?️ According to the 2022 Asian American Voter Survey released in July by three nonprofits, health care ranked the highest among issues important to Asian American voters. About 43% of Asian Americans said they “very often” or “somewhat often” worry about not having Medicare to cover their health care costs in retirement. Affordable health care and abortion access are also influencing how Asian Americans intend to vote. 

  • Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders disproportionately lack health insurance—9.1% of NHPIs are uninsured compared to 6.3% of non-Hispanic whites, per the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.

86% of respondents said jobs and the economy will play a critical role factoring into how they decide to vote. 

  • In September, unemployment rates ticked down across all racial groups, with Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders at 3.7% and Asians at 2.5% compared to 3.5% for all Americans.
  • Don’t forget: AAPI women make $0.75 to every dollar a non-Hispanic white man makes, meaning AAPI women—who are overrepresented in frontline and low-wage jobs—lose thousands of dollars of potential income over their lifetimes.

? Crime remains a top issue: 73% of Asian American registered voters worry about experiencing hate crimes, harassment, and discrimination at least “sometimes.” 24% said they worry about it “very often.”

Notably, 69% of Asian American registered voters said they favor affirmative action programs designed to help Black people, women, and other minority groups get better access to higher education. 

Graphic courtesy of the Pew Research Center

? DATA POINT — About 13.3 million Asian Americans are projected eligible voters this year, up by 9% from 2018, per a Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month. Asian American voters make up 5.5% of all eligible voters in the U.S. 

  • Despite evidence of the power of the Asian American vote as the margin of victory, the two dominant political parties still fail to meaningfully engage voters. The 2022 Asian American Voter Survey found that about 52% of Asian Americans said they hadn’t been contacted by the Democratic Party in the past year, while 60% said they haven’t been contacted by the Republican Party. 

?️ VOTER VOICES — Diversity in the electorate: In interviews conducted by FiveThirtyEight, five Asian American voters all agreed political parties must do a better job recognizing the range of experiences, values, and beliefs among Asian American communities.

  • “As a Pakistani American and practicing Muslim, my concerns are probably very different from those of, say, people of Eastern Asian descent … I wish there was a little bit more recognition of our differences versus just lumping us all under one ‘Asian American’ category,” said Syed Fahim, a Pennsylvania voter who said he plans to support GOP candidates this November.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that AAPI immigrants are uninsured at lower rates than non-Hispanic white people.

This story appeared as "The Big Story" in The Yappie's Oct. 24, 2022 newsletter.


The Yappie is your must-read briefing on AAPI power, politics, and influence, fiscally sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association. Make a donationsubscribe, and follow us on Twitter (@theyappie). Send tips and feedback to [email protected].

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