Asian American and Latino voters prized in an excruciatingly tight presidential campaign • West Virginia Watch

DURHAM, N.C. — As a weekend morning in late September dips into the afternoon, Annar Parikh finally gets an eligible voter to answer the door.

After Parikh gives a rundown of some of the local candidates in North Carolina’s election, she asks the woman if she plans to vote in the presidential election.

“It’s personal,” the woman says before closing the door.

The 26-year-old marks the house in a voter database for North Carolina Asian Americans Together, a nonpartisan organization that focuses on voter registration in the Asian American community.

“This is typical for our community,” Parikh, a field manager for NCAAT, says while peeling a clementine, recounting how difficult it can be sometimes to reach voters in the swing state.

There are more than 360,000 Asian Americans in North Carolina. Indian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in the state, with a population of nearly 110,000.

The voters Parikh is trying to reach are prized by the presidential campaigns. In an election that is virtually a dead heat, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is working to tap into the two of the fastest-growing voting blocs in the United States — Asian Americans and Latinos, especially in the seven swing states.

Asian Americans have gotten relatively little attention in the presidential campaign and Harris herself has not greatly emphasized her South Asian background — her mother was an Indian immigrant and Harris if elected would be the first president of South Asian descent.

“My challenge is the challenge of making sure I can talk with and listen to as many voters as possible and earn their vote, and I will never assume that anyone in our country should elect a leader based on their gender or their race,” Harris said in a Monday night interview with NBC News, when asked if sexism is a factor in the race.

While Republican nominee Donald Trump has held events with Latino voters, one of his first big appeals to Asian American voters will be Thursday in a Turning Point PAC event with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii in Nevada.

Targeting communities

Also Thursday, the Democratic National Committee launched a voting media campaign across the country to engage with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. The campaign will provide information about polling locations and multilingual advertisements in Florida, Texas and New York.

About 15 million Asian Americans are eligible to vote in this presidential election, a 15% increase in eligible voters from 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. 

An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, a 12% increase in eligible voters from 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. 

The Harris campaign has launched targeted ads for Asian American voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that focus on her economic proposals.

The campaign also released an ad specific to the battleground state of Nevada featuring Asian American small business owners. Nevada is a swing state with one of the largest shares of the Asian American population in the country, at 11%. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 with a little over 33,000 votes.

The Harris campaign has also launched a WhatsApp outreach effort in the Latino community and on Tuesday unveiled an “opportunity agenda for Latino men.”

Grassroot campaigns reflecting Asian American voting blocs have also emerged on behalf of Harris, such as South Asians for Harris, Chinese Americans for Harris, Korean Americans for Harris, Latinas for Harris and Latino Men for Harris.

Getting voters to the polls

On-the-ground efforts like voter registration and voter mobilization can be a huge effort in a tight presidential race.

“The cause of the low rate of voter registration is the same cause of the low level of information around voting, so we want to make sure we’re not just registering people, we’re also talking to them about how the process of voting works, where they can vote, how they can vote early,” said Jack Golub, the North Carolina community engagement program manager for the Hispanic Federation, a group that does civic engagement in the Latino community.

Nationally, the voting registration gap for Latinos — the difference between those eligible to vote who have registered and those who have not registered — is about 13.2 million, which is based on the most recent data from 2022 from UNIDOS, a Latino advocacy organization. 

The Trump campaign has largely focused on trying to make inroads with Latino voters through roundtable discussions with leaders as well as a town hall hosted by Univision for undecided Latino voters. Separately, Harris also took part in a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters.

A Monday poll showed that Harris continues to outperform Trump among Latino voters in the battlegrounds of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

When it comes to Asian American voters and Trump, his rhetoric during his first term around the coronavirus and linking it to China could have fueled anti-Asian sentiment among Trump voters, a study shows. 

But Steven Cheung, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to States Newsroom that the former president is an advocate for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and has “created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity, and prosperity were afforded to everybody.”

“Anyone who says otherwise is disgustingly using the AAPI community to play political games for their own benefit,” Cheung said. “The 2024 campaign is poised to build upon the strength and successes of Asian Americans during President Trump’s first term to propel him to a … second term victory.”

It comes down to policy

With Harris at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket after Biden’s withdrawal last summer, more Asian American voters are planning to support her compared to when Biden was in the race, according to a comprehensive survey by AAPIVote and AAPI Data. 

The late September survey also said 66% of Asian American voters said they plan on voting for Harris, compared to 28% of Asian American voters who said they would vote for Trump. About 6% were undecided.

Chintan Patel, the executive director of Indian American Impact, said that while he has noticed an enthusiasm for Harris leading the presidential ticket, it still comes down to policy, specifically the economy, for the South Asian community.

“Yes, the community is excited about the opportunity to elect a South Asian president, there’s no question, but we’re also looking for, what are her plans?” he said.

His organization focuses on electing Indian Americans and has backed Harris.

“One of the things that I think is really resonating with the community is her plans around the economy, creating an opportunity economy, particularly helping small businesses,” Patel said. “Small businesses have been such a vital, important part of mobility for South Asian Americans, particularly the immigrant story, the first generation story, that is how we have seen mobility.”

Harris often talks of her late mother’s roots. But that seems to have little sway in some parts of North Carolina’s South Asian community — a surprise to Eva Eapen, an 18-year-old canvasser for NCAAT.

Eapen, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she expected to see more excitement in the South Asian community when Harris picked up the torch for Democrats as the presidential nominee.

“I don’t know if it’s lack of engagement. I don’t know if it’s lack of information. I don’t know if it’s lack of mobilization, but they don’t really care,” she said. “Maybe it’s more policy over nationality as Hindi?”

Several South Asian voters who States Newsroom spoke with in North Carolina made similar remarks. The fact that the Democratic presidential nominee was South Asian didn’t guarantee their vote and they instead expressed concern over the cost of living and the economy.

Ikamjit Gill, 28, said the biggest issues getting him to the polls are inflation and the economy.

“It’s not a big thing for me,” Gill said of Harris’ background.

Gill said he’s a registered Democrat and voted for Biden in 2020, but this year he’s considering voting for Trump. He said he was laid off from his tech job under the Biden administration and got his first job under the Trump administration.

“I’ve been out of a job for a while,” he said. “I just want some change.”

Vishal Ohir, 47, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he was initially leaning toward voting for Trump, but was impressed by Harris during the presidential debate in September. He liked her detailed plans around housing and the economy.

Ohir said he’s still undecided but in the end, he wants a presidential candidate who can tackle the cost of living because “everything has gone up.”

Arvind Balaraman, 53, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he’s frustrated that wages have not kept up with the cost of living. He said he’s not particularly excited there’s a South Asian candidate running for president. He just wants his grocery bill lowered.

“Everything has doubled, tripled,” he said of prices. “You had two different parties in the last two terms and the prices are still going up.”

Balaraman said he’s undecided, but still plans to vote in the presidential election.