BY KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN
Donald Trump is viewed very unfavorably by Asian Americans, according to data from the 2016 Post-Election National Asian American Survey (NAAS). Only 32 percent of Asian Americans hold a favorable view of Trump, with 9 percent viewing him very favorably. By contrast, 52 percent of Asian Americans view Trump unfavorably, with about a third viewing him very unfavorably.
Unfavorable views on Trump were especially high among Korean, Japanese, and Pakistani Americans. Even among Chinese Americans, who saw an uptick in social media activity in favor of Trump prior to the election, many more held unfavorable views than favorable views. Vietnamese Americans were the only group for whom the proportion of favorable views was greater than the proportion of unfavorable views.
The 2016 post-election survey interviewed 4,393 Asian Americans and comparison samples of Pacific Islanders, Whites, Latinos, and Blacks conducted between Nov. 10, 2016 and March 2, 2017. For the first time, the survey also includes nationally representative samples of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans.
In contrast to their views on Trump, Asian Americans generally held favorable views on Hillary Clinton after the election. Nearly 60 percent of Asian Americans held a favorable view of Clinton, and she was viewed favorably by a majority of Asian Americans, except for Chinese Americans, who were split between favorable and unfavorable views. These views on the two major-party presidential candidates generally tracked with their vote choices in the November election.
The National Asian American Survey was founded in 2008, and repeated in 2012 and 2016. It is a scientific and nonpartisan effort to poll the opinions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and is the only nationally representative academic survey of the political and social attitudes of this population. The 2016 Post-Election Survey was supported by a major grant from the National Science Foundation, with support for supplemental data collections from the Ford Foundation, California Immigration Research Initiative, and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. The authors are solely responsible for the content and analysis presented herein.