Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has a commanding 38-point lead over Republican challenger Donald Trump among Asian American voters, according to a new poll by the NORC at the University of Chicago. The poll results were released Tuesday and represented a sharp increase in Harris’s support after President Joe Biden announced that he was ending his candidacy for the 2024 contest in July, opening the door to Vice President Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Harris Expands Her Lead Among Asian American Voters
For Harris, 59, leads Trump, 78, by 66 percent to 28 percent among Asian American voters, another important uptick-a 23-point jump from the 2024 Asian American Voter Survey (AAVS) conducted earlier this year, when Biden led by 15 points. Six percent of voters say they are undecided or plan to support a different candidate. That compares with the 2020 AAVS, where Biden led Trump 54 percent to 30 percent.Harris’ Favorability Jumps Among Asian Americans
The survey also showed a more significant overall movement in favorable opinion of Harris among Asian American voters. Today, 62% of Asian American voters consider Harris favorable, up from 44% in the last AAVS. Compared to this, 28% find Trump favorable, while fully 70% hold an unfavorable opinion of him.VP Running Mates: Walz More Favorable Than Vance
The poll showed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, has an unusually higher favorability than Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. Fifty-six percent of Asian American voters have favorable views toward Walz, while only 21% think favorably of Vance.Identity and Voter Engagement
Asian American voters say, by 38%, that Harris’s being a woman is “very” or “extremely” important. By comparison, 27% said the same about her being Asian Indian or South Asian heritage. In terms of outreach efforts, Asian American voters reported more frequent outreach from the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.
Now that US Presidential elections have been moved to November 5, 2024, these results illustrate Harris’ increasing support among a crucial voting demographic which may well impact the wider race.