Trump Gained With Asian American Voters. Now Republicans Are Working to Keep Them.

Trump “set the standard” for how to engage with AAPI voters. His party is figuring out how to match it, as Democrats fight back.

Trump visits Truong Tien, a Vietnamese restaurant at Eden Center in Falls Church, VA.
Donald Trump pitched himself directly to AAPI voters in places like Virginia’s Eden Center. Alex Brandon/AP

Republicans across the country are pressing to find ways to keep — or better, grow — their party’s new support among Asian American voters, after a sudden boost for Donald Trump.

Exit polling showed anywhere from a 5-point to 9-point shift rightward among Asian American voters in this year’s presidential election relative to 2020. The gain wasn’t surprising to some Republicans, said a source familiar with the Republican National Committee’s outreach to Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. The source told NOTUS that the outcome makes sense given Trump’s efforts to connect with AAPI communities.

Trump “set the standard” for how to engage with Asian American communities, the source said, and future candidates will follow suit. Trump pitched himself directly to the communities with events in Nevada (where there’s a growing community of Filipino American and other AAPI individuals) targeting AAPI voters and a visit to the Eden Center (a Vietnamese American commercial center in Virginia).