Poll: AANHPI voters seeking a role and participation in Texas politics

TEXAS TRIBUNE

Asian American voters want to be seen and heard by Texas politicians.

It may be serendipitous, but the crowning of two Filipino Americans to compete in the Miss Universe and Miss America pageants is symbolic of the changing demographics of Texas and the ongoing effort for political recognition of AANHPI communities.

Asian Americans, and to certain extent, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, are the fastest growing group of voters in the Lone Star state and are clamoring to have their voices heard and eager to cast their ballots.

“This is a community that is sort of up for grabs to bring in and to make sure that you’re listening to these communities and so that you’re shaping policy and messaging in your campaigns to serve them,” founding president Ashley Cheng told NBC. “But it feels like a missed opportunity. … We need to be listened to.”

Around 80% of AAPI Texans surveyed in a recent poll conducted Asian Texans for Justice say their interests “are not well represented in government.”

Both of the pageant queens -- Averie Bishop, who will represent the state in the Miss America contest, and R'Bonney Gabriel, who went on be crowned Miss USA and who is headed to the Miss Universe pageant next year -- have been outspoken about their support for a woman's right to choose and representation in US culture.

The defeat of two high-profile Congressional candidates in 2020 -- Filipino American Gina Ortiz and Indian American Sri Kulkarni -- has not dampened the effort to wield the ever-increasing power of their influential votes.

To get a sense of their growing numbers and activism, a poll was taken by Asian  Texans for Justice during the summer. What they found is that AAPI voters are not a silent minority on the margins of Texas politics. They have the potential to be the deciding margin for the future of Texas. About 64% of AAPI voters are eager to vote but finding voting information in their own language has been a hurdle.

FYI: To read the entire Asian Texans for Justice report, click here.

While the White population of Texas declined by 17.5%, a decrease of 3 million people, between 2010 and 2020, the Asian American population grew by 66.5%, from 1.1 to 1.85 million, states the report. The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population grew by 62%, from 48,000 to over 77,000. Texas has the third highest AAPI population, and the Asian American community is growing faster in Texas than nationwide; nationally, the Asian American population increase was just 38.6%.

Other key findings from the survey are:

The pageant winners' decidedly progressive views also reflect the state's AANHPI voters, 42% of whom are registered Democrats, the party out of power in red state Texas. Asian American Republicans make up 29% of the AANHPI vote. A large portion, 29%, describe themselves as independent voters, aligned with neither of the two major parties.

The overwhelming majority of AANHPI live in and around metropolitan centers. Only 1% of the respondents lived in what's described as rural areas.

The largest concentration of Asian Americans, 35% live in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metro area, 25% live in the Houston area, and 27% live in the San Antonio-Austin area.

The push to have an AAPI candidate for Congress for one of these areas was thwarted by the Republican-dominated Texas legislature. Instead of having a more powerful presence, the GOP lawmakers split the AANHPI voters so that their potential influence was also splintered and placed into districts dominated by Republicans. 

A lawsuit joined by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Brennan Center and the ACLU protesting the partisan gerrymandering of the new Congressional districts was supposed to be heard at the end of September, well before the Midterm elections in November. However, the judge postponed the court date until after the midterms.

In conclusion, the report expressed hope that the influence of the AAPI community will continue to grow despite efforts to weaken influence and suppress the ability to vote. 

Despite the vast increase in AAPI voting, AAPIs in Texas are still underrepresented in voting turnout. In 2020, 282,000 registered AAPIs did not vote that year. And with young AAPIs turning 18 every day, these groups — and unregistered AAPIs — present opportunities to expand the electorate. 

The poll concluded that AAPI voters can move from being sidelined on the margins to being the deciding margin for the future of Texas politics and policy.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.