Each political party has people they consider to be their base. The Republicans typically dominate white working class voters and Christian believers. Democrats typically win a majority of votes from minorities and the highly-educated.
Both sides try their hardest to rally these groups and produce high voter turnouts during presidential election years. You can see it in the candidate’s speeches. They are careful to mention issues that affect those particular groups and paint themselves as the champion for those causes.
However, there are still groups of people in the United States who feel underrepresented and left out of the political process. A lot of Asian-Americans share this sentiment and feel that neither presidential candidate is taking the time to win their vote.
This lack of attention can be attributed to two factors. Asian-Americans are generally higher on the economic food chain. Their economic status is generally higher than those of other minorities, leading them to be more cautious when voting Democratic.
At the same time, they are still minorities. Minorities who feel underrepresented by society and the government. They see the Democratic Party’s work on behalf of women, the LGBT, African-Americans, and Latinos and sense that there is a potential home for them within this party.
The higher economic status of Asian-Americans does make it difficult for Democrats who are used to fighting for minorities that are on the lower end of the economic spectrum. There isn’t always a clear path to winning their support during the presidential season.
This time, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is looking to garner more support from the Asian-American community. She knows that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is a divisive personality and is looking to capitalize on his erratic behavior.
Recent polling has Trump’s favorable-unfavorable ratio at 19-61 percent within the Asian-American community. His brash and decidedly reckless behavior is a turn off to a group of people who have witnessed the economy rebound under President Barack Obama’s steady leadership.
They are also looking to avoid being the target of his rage. He has attacked every other minority group, it is only a matter of time before he starts picking on them as well.
Clinton sees their hesitance to support Trump and is looking to take full advantage. She wants to position herself as the stable and trustworthy candidate. She sees that her favorable-unfavorable ratio is at 62-26 percent within the Asian-American community and wants to turn these positive statistics into votes come November.
Besides proving that Trump is a loose cannon candidate, Clinton wants to use vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine’s influence within the Asian-American community to her advantage.
Kaine has been laying the foundation for Asian-American support over the past couple of years. He won over seventy percent of their vote during his 2012 senate run and has been working with the AAPI Victory Fund to help register Asian-American voters and help boost voter turnout.
He even met with important South Asian liberals seeking their financial and logistical support during important campaigns across key swing states. He and Clinton are well aware that, despite Trump’s rising unpopularity, certain states like Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina are considered to be close contests. By appealing to Asian-Americans in these states, they will have a better chance of winning all three of them and adding to their electoral total.
The Clinton-Kaine presidential ticket is hoping that Trump’s combustible nature, combined with their aggressive efforts to gain support, will result in a high voter turnout from the Asian-American community. They are also counting on President Obama’s success to work in their favor. The current president’s job approval ratings have increased over 16 percent from the Asian-American community over the last two years. The Clinton Campaign is counting on all three of these factors to positively influence Asian-American voters come November.
Here is a video of vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine campaigning with Asian-Americans in Virginia during his 2012 Senate campaign:
Featured image from Facebook.
