Asian Voters Move Right

The New York Times sends out an email each morning; you can view today’s, by David Leonhardt, here. The email is headed:

Asian American voters, like Latinos, have shifted toward the Republican Party since 2018. Why?

Rather than Why, some would ask, What took them so long? But let’s enjoy the good news:

In the past two elections — 2020 and 2022 — Asian Americans have moved toward the right, according to election returns and exit polls. Democrats still won Asian voters by a wide margin in last year’s midterms but by less than in the recent past:

In some places, Republicans have done better yet:

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, the Republican incumbent, beat Beto O’Rourke among Asian voters, 52 percent to 46 percent, and Texas House Republicans also did well…. In statewide races in Florida and Georgia, the Republican candidates received at least one-third of the vote, substantially more than in previous elections.

This trend should intensify in the next few election cycles. The GOP should easily be able to get a majority of Asian votes (recognizing, as Leonhardt does, that the “Asian” vote, like the “Hispanic” vote, is highly diverse). The Times email identifies some of the reasons for Asian voters shifting to the GOP:

Education issues hurt Democrats. Asian voters have been unhappy with proposals to change the rules for magnet high schools like Stuyvesant that admit children based on test scores. Many students at those schools come from lower-income Asian families.

This understates the case. Asians are viciously discriminated against by universities like Harvard–in fact, by educational institutions across the board, and by some woke corporations. There is no reason why Asians should put up with this.

Perhaps most important, the Republicans’ anti-crime message resonated, following increases in both citywide crime and anti-Asian violence. Lester Chang, a military veteran and a new Republican member of the New York State Assembly, said that the overwhelming reason he won a Brooklyn district — beating a Democratic incumbent who had held the seat for 36 years — was crime.

Asians commit very few crimes, but are often victimized.

The Times email includes some data on the ideological breakdown of Democratic voters:

The Pew Research Center has conducted a detailed analysis of the electorate and categorized about 8 percent of voters as belonging to “the progressive left.” This group spans all races, but it is disproportionately white — and upper-income. True, a large number of Democrats, including many Black voters, are more moderate. But the progressive left has an outsize impact partly because of its strong presence in institutions with access to political megaphones, like advocacy groups, universities, media organizations and Hollywood.

This is a notable moment of self-knowledge, given that the Times is one of the “media organizations” included in that small, hard-left minority. But the takeaway is, why should anyone be afraid of such a tiny group? Those eight percent are, collectively, the man behind the curtain who deserves to be mocked.