Democrats air ads directed at AAPI voters.

SCREEN CAPTURE / BIDEN CAMPAIGN

Filipino WWII veterans appear in the new video aimed at AAPI communities.

The Democratic Party's first 60-second ad directed at Asian American and Pacific Islander communities was released Wednesday (Oct. 21) titled "Standing Together."

The aggressive outreach effort comes after some Biden supporters raised concerns over the summer about the lack of outreach to the AAPI electorate.

The 2020 Asian American Voter Survey by APIA Data and AAPI Vote showed that a majority of Asian Americans (54%) surveyed planned to vote for Joe Biden compared to just 30% who planned to support Republican incumbent Donald Trump. 

The poll also shows that about half of all respondents were not contacted by either major party. With a higher than average response of voters who register themselves as independent, the Democratics outreach will be critical to cement votes from Asian American voters.

This Biden-Harris campaign ad targets the AAPI electorate.

Biden was strongly favored among all national origin groups surveyed, except Vietnamese Americans. Among Vietnamese registered voters, support is higher for Trump (48%) than Biden (36%). Indian Americans are the most inclined to vote for Biden among all Asian American groups (66%). At the same time, 14% of Asian American registered voters remained undecided about their presidential vote choice, with Chinese Americans (22%) exhibiting the highest proportion of voters who said they were “undecided.”

Political parties have yet to harness the power of the Asian American vote despite the fact that many remain persuadable. The 2020 Asian American Voter Survey shows that about half of all respondents were not contacted by either major party. With a higher than average response of voters who do not subscribe with either party, party outreach will be critical for Asian American voters.

The centerpiece of the program is a television commercial titled “Stand Together.” The ad features a narrator framing Biden’s Democratic ticket as a return to American values alongside photos of families, workers and veterans from different Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is the first Indian-American vice presidential candidate, is featured prominently in the 60-second clip.

“It’s time to go home to a place we once knew, a country of kindness and compassion, empathy and community, tolerance and generosity, integrity and hope,” the narrator says in the ad. “It’s time to stand together in a place called America, the place we all call home. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know the way.”

The survey, which was released last month, showed Biden beating Trump in multiple segments of the community, except among Vietnamese-Americans. The survey also indicated the Indian-American and East Asian American communities where Biden has an advantage still have undecided voters, which makes the space a clear growth opportunity for the Democratic ticket. 

The campaign declined to say exactly how much is being spent on the advertising push. However, in August, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon released a memo saying Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders would be among the “key constituencies” targeted through a massive $280 million advertising spend. In that memo, O’Malley Dillon cited the Democratic advantage with these communities and noted that targeting them “could increase the party’s margin of victory in closely contested battleground states.”

Harris also touted the Biden campaign’s effort to reach a diverse selection of voters during the vice presidential debate on Wednesday.

“Joe and I are particularly proud of the coalition we’ve built around our campaign,” she said. “We probably have one of the broadest coalitions of folks that you’ve ever seen in a presidential race.”

U.S.-India relations is the focus of this ad.

A second ad was released this week targeting Indian American voters who like other AAPI groups, with the exception of Vietnamese Americans, strongly favor the Democratic ticket. 

Not surprisingly, one of the key reasons South Asians have flocked to the Democratics is Biden's running mate -- Indian American Kamala Harris.

In earlier surveys of the largely immigrant community, the Democrats' selection of Harris  health care, affordable health care, immigration, economic opportunities and education have overridden concerns about India-U.S. foreign policies and trade, which the Republicans have emphasized in Trump's palling around with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With a new ad targeting the Indian American community, the Biden campaign wants to respond to those Indian Americans who still have strong ties with their country of origin by showing that India and its economic and security concerns will not be overlooked by a Democratic administration.

The one AAPI ethnic group that was leaning towards Trump, according to the survey, was the Vietnamese community.

Earlier this year, Democrats scored a historical first by airing a spot in Vietnamese attacking Michelle Steel, GOP candidate for the 45th Congressional District in Southern California.

Biden also wrote an oped for a Nevada ethnic newspaper that was translated and published in Vietnamese.

Other video English-speaking ads appearing in social media has Mandarin or Cantonese subtitles.

In Texas with its large South Asian American communityi, the Biden campaign has been airing radio commercials, conducting phone banks and Zoom meetups in various Indian languages. AAPIs for Biden coalition work with affinity groups like South Asians for Biden and their ethnic national councils, including Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.

“AAPI voters are the fastest-growing bloc in the electorate but very few efforts were made to reach them in previous elections. There is more uptick in terms of outreach to subgroups this time,” Harini Krishnan, California co-state director for South Asians for Biden, said to NBC.

“The understanding of the lack of outreach in 2016 really helped us in this election cycle to ensure we work to increase desi voter turnout.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Updated Oct. 23, 10:30 a.m. to include new material and for clarification.