“Let’s do a poll.”
Donald Trump was addressing a campaign rally outside Las Vegas two weeks before the November 5 election. The event was an outreach to Asian-American voters in Nevada, the “swingiest” of the battleground states.
“Which do you like more?” asked the former president, referring to tax exemptions. “Tips. Overtime. Social Security?” Tax cuts on Social Security got the loudest cheer from the crowd.
“That’s amazing. . . the seniors always win,” said the 78-year-old candidate, who ended the rally with a pretend golf swing as “YMCA” by the Village People played over the speakers.
Trump won Nevada by 3 percentage points, flipping the state Republican for the first time in 20 years.
Did Asian-American voters put the former president over the finish line?
A Washington Post report based on exit poll results showed that 61 percent of Asian voters in Nevada cast their ballot for Trump while 38 percent voted for the Democratic Party’s candidate, Kamala Harris. Asian-American support for the former president was the highest among any ethnic group in the state, surpassing even white voters (the Republican base) by 7 points.
As the largest Asian subgroup in Nevada, Filipino-American voters may have contributed to the “red wave” that swept across the state.
The Filipino community in the U.S. has historically voted for the Democratic Party and a pre-election poll indicated that Kamala Harris was their preferred candidate. However, the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) election survey released in September found that Filipino voters had grown disenchanted with both parties.
About 30 percent of respondents identified as independents, a 6-point increase from 2020. Filipino voters listed the cost of housing, crime, and Social Security as high-priority issues that would influence their choice of candidate in the election.
The head of Turning Point Action, a conservative youth organization that hosted the Nevada rally viewed the community’s growing non-partisan profile as an opportunity for the Republican Party. “This is a group that is poised to resonate powerfully with President Trump’s message of economic empowerment, law-and-order, safe streets, and a return to orderly, sane immigration policies,” said 31-year-old activist Charlie Kirk.
Both campaigns made a concerted effort to engage the community. At the Turning Point rally, Trump drew attention to the fact that “so many amazing Nevada Filipinos” were in the audience. The Harris campaign focused on heritage and culture putting up billboards with the Tagalog greeting, “Mabuhay!”
“There was very strong support for President Trump . . . in the state of Nevada,” said Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippines’ ambassador to the U.S., in an interview with the ABS-CBN News. Many Filipino American voters, he noticed, “were not ashamed to admit” that they wanted to see Trump back in the White House.
Romualdez pointed out that Filipino voters are “conservative in their thinking.” An older generation of immigrants, many of whom are practicing Catholics, support the Republican Party’s platform on abortion.
Trump’s message on illegal immigration struck a chord with naturalized citizens from the Philippines, who are reluctant to legitimize the status of undocumented workers from their home country. Romualdez urged Filipinos without a secure path to citizenship to “leave voluntarily because once you are deported you can never come back to the United States.”
In a post entitled “Anatomy of a red wave – How Trump won Nevada,” the non-partisan Nevada Independent commented that “Trump had a clearer, simpler message than Harris – the people in power made prices high, and he would fix it.” At the rally, Trump brought up “kitchen table” concerns saying, “Everybody I speak to, they talk about groceries. . . your foods have gone up 50, 60, 70 percent.”
Trump’s pitch to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits was popular with Filipino-Americans across the country. “His concerns for the elderly is admirable,” a first-time voter from Oklahoma told ANC 24/7, a Philippines-based news channel. A tax break on Social Security was “good news” she explained since her retirement benefits were due next year.
A month after the election, however, one Republican lawmaker who had been briefed on the incoming administration’s plans to cut federal spending declared “nothing is sacrosanct” implying that Social Security and Medicare costs would not be excluded from budget-related discussions.
In an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, James Zarsadiaz a historian at the University of San Francisco and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program wrote: “The 2024 election results make clear: The Asian American electorate has shifted further right.”