A majority of Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters nationwide backed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president. Seventy-seven percent of Indian Americans who responded to the 2016 National Asian American Survey voted for former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, noted researchers who released results May 15. Eighty percent of Indian Americans view President Donald Trump unfavorably, according to the survey, which was conducted shortly after the Nov. 8, 2016 general election.
For the first time, the survey disaggregated data about Bangladeshi and Pakistani Americans. Eighty-eight percent of Pakistani Americans and 90 percent of Bangladeshi Americans voted for Clinton. Almost all Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans view Trump unfavorably, according to the NAAS survey results. More than 1,100 South Asian Americans participated in the NAAS survey.
While Clinton performed better nationally with AAPI voters than President Barack Obama did in 2012 — winning 79 percent of the vote compared to Obama’s 77 percent — President-elect Donald Trump secured double the AAPI support compared to GOP candidate Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that helped Trump win the election.He noted the influence of Khizr Khan, father of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 during the Iraq War, who berated Trump during the Democratic National Convention for his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
About 35 percent of Indian Americans identify as Independent or Other party voters, reported the survey. More than a third of Indian American participants in the survey reported that they had problems with bullying. Bangladeshi and Pakistani Americans reported similar results.
Almost one-fifth of Indian Americans believed they had been subjected to discrimination at the workplace, based on their ethnicity. “All of the anti-immigrant rhetoric we’re currently seeing might be having an effect on getting hired or getting promoted,” said Ramakrishnan.