DURHAM, N.C. — As a overdue September weekend morning turns into afternoon, Annar Parikh finally manages to get an eligible voter to open the door.
After Parikh discusses some of the local candidates running in North Carolina’s elections, he 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 this home in the voter database of North Carolina Asian Americans Together, a nonpartisan organization focused on voter registration in the Asian American community.
“This is typical of our community,” says Parikh, a field manager at NCAAT, as he peels a clementine and recalls how hard it can sometimes be to reach swing voters.
There are over 360 thousand of them Asian Americans in North Carolina. Indian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the state, with nearly 110,000 residents.
The voters Parikh is trying to reach are valued in presidential campaigns. In an election that is virtually open, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is seeking to capitalize on two of the fastest-growing voting blocs in the United States — Asian Americans and Latinos, especially in seven swing states.
Asian Americans received relatively little attention in the presidential campaign, and Harris herself did not make much of her South Asian heritage – her mother was an immigrant from India, and Harris, if elected, would be the first president of South Asian descent.
“My challenge is to make sure I can talk to as many voters as possible, listen to them and get their votes. “I will never assume that anyone in our country should choose a leader because of their gender or race,” Harris he said in a Monday evening interview with NBC News when asked whether sexism is a factor in the race.
Although GOP candidate Donald Trump has held events with Latino voters, one of his first major appeals to Asian American voters will be Thursday, at the Turning Point PAC event with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Republican Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, Nevada.
Social targeting
Also Thursday, the Democratic National Committee launched a nationwide voting media campaign aimed at engaging with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. The campaign will include information about polling places and multilingual ads in Florida, Texas and New York.
There are approximately 15 million Asian Americans eligible to vote in this presidential election, a 15% raise in the number of eligible voters from 2020. according to the Pew Research Center.
An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, a 12% raise in the number of eligible voters compared to 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.
Harris’ campaign launched targeted ads targeting Asian-American voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, focusing on her economic proposals.
The campaign too released an ad specific to Nevada, a battleground state involving Asian American miniature business owners. Nevada is a swing state with one of the highest percentages of Asian-American population in the country at 11%. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by just over 33,000 votes.
Harris’ campaign also launched a WhatsApp campaign among the Latino community and on Tuesday unveiled the “opportunity agenda for Latinos.”
Grassroots campaigns also emerged on Harris’ behalf reflecting Asian American voting blocs, such as South Asians for Harris, Chinese Americans for Harris, Korean Americans for Harris, Latinos for Harris, and Latinos for Harris.
Getting voters to the polls
Field efforts like voter registration and voter mobilization can be a monumental effort in a tight presidential race.
“The cause of low voter registration rates is the same cause of low information about voting, so we want to make sure that we’re not only registering people, but also talking to them about how the voting process works, where they can vote and how they can vote early.” said Jack Golub, North Carolina community engagement program manager for the Hispanic Federation, a civic engagement group in the Latino community.
Nationally, the Latino voter registration gap – the difference between eligible voters who registered and those who did not – is about 13.2 million, based on the most the latest 2022 data from UNIDOS, a Latino advocacy organization.
The Trump campaign has largely focused on trying to reach Latino voters through roundtable discussions with leaders as well as a town hall hosted by Univision for undecided Latino voters. Separately, Harris also participated in a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters.
Monday’s 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 its ties to China may have had Research shows they have fueled anti-Asian sentiment among Trump voters.
But Steven Cheung, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to States Newsroom that the former president is a supporter of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and has “created an environment of diversity, equal opportunity and prosperity for all.”
“Anyone who says otherwise is disgustingly exploiting the AAPI community to play political games for their own benefit,” Cheung said. “The 2024 campaign aims to leverage the strength and success of Asian Americans during President Trump’s first term to ensure he… wins in a second term.”
This comes down to politics
With Harris at the top of the Democratic presidential field after Biden’s withdrawal last summer, more Asian-American voters plan to support her compared to when Biden was in the race, poll finds comprehensive research conducted by AAPIVote and AAPI Data.
The overdue September poll also found that 66% of Asian American voters said they planned to vote for Harris, compared to 28% of Asian American voters who said they would vote for Trump. About 6% were undecided.
Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, said that while he noted Harris’ enthusiasm in the presidential race, it still comes down to policy, particularly economic policy, towards the South Asian community.
“Yes, the community is excited to elect a South Asian president, there is no doubt about it, but we also ask what are their plans?” he said.
His organization focuses on electing Indian-Americans and supports Harris.
“One of the things that I think really appeals to the community is its plans for the economy, creating an economy of opportunity, especially helping small businesses,” Patel said. “Small businesses have played a key role in the mobility of South Asian Americans, especially with immigrants, first-generation stories – that’s how we view mobility.”
Harris often talks about his overdue mother’s roots. However, it doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on some parts of the South Asian community in North Carolina – which came as a surprise to Eva Eapen, an 18-year-old NCAAT canvasser.
Eapen, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she expects there will be more enthusiasm in the South Asian community as Harris takes over for Democrats as a presidential candidate.
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of commitment. I don’t know if it’s a lack of information. I don’t know if it’s a lack of mobilization, but they don’t really care,” she said. “Maybe Hindi is more about politics than nationality?”
Several South Asian voters interviewed by State Newsroom in North Carolina made similar comments. The fact that the Democratic presidential candidate was South Asian did not guarantee them votes, and instead they expressed concern about the cost of living and the economy.
Ikamjit Gill (28) said inflation and the economy were the biggest issues hindering him from reaching the polls.
“It’s not a big deal to me,” Gill said of Harris’ past.
Gill said he is a registered Democrat and voted for Biden in 2020, but is considering voting for Trump this year. He said he was laid off from his tech job during the Biden administration and got his first job during the Trump administration.
“I haven’t had a job for a while,” he said. “I just want some change.”
Vishal Ohir, 47, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he was initially inclined to vote for Trump, but was impressed by him during the September presidential debate. He liked her detailed plans for housing and the economy.
Ohir said he is still undecided but ultimately wants a presidential candidate who can handle the cost of living because “everything has gone up.”
Arvind Balaraman, 53, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he is frustrated that wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living. He said he wasn’t particularly excited that a South Asian candidate was running for president. He just wants his food bill to be reduced.
“Everything has doubled, tripled,” he said of prices. “There have been two different events over the last two terms and prices continue to rise.”
Balaraman said he is undecided yet but still plans to vote in the presidential election.
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