Washington, Jul 23 (AP)— A small but rapidly expanding segment of the U.S. population has grown increasingly disillusioned with President Donald Trump this year due to concerns about rising costs and fears that new tariff policies could further inflate expenses, according to a recent poll.
The proportion of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) holding an unfavorable opinion of Trump jumped to 71% in July, up from 60% in December, as revealed by a national survey conducted by AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Significantly, AAPI adults identifying as independents are especially likely to have cooled in their support for Trump. Approximately seven in ten AAPI independents express a "very" or "somewhat" unfavorable opinion of Trump, marking an increase of roughly 20 percentage points since December.
The poll is part of an ongoing initiative exploring the perspectives of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, perspectives often overlooked in other surveys due to small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.
AAPI independents' unfavorable views of Trump are more pronounced than the general independent adult population's unfavorability, which was at 52% in a June AP-NORC poll, slightly up from 44% in December.
Economic concerns appear to play a central role. Around eight in ten AAPI adults anticipate that Trump's tariff policies will elevate consumer goods costs, while only about four in ten believe these policies will boost domestic manufacturing, and merely two in ten expect an increase in U.S. jobs as a result.
“To me, it seems like a lot of not-really-well-thought-out things that are happening,” commented Michael Ida, a 56-year-old independent from Hawaii who teaches high school advanced-placement calculus. “In the process, there's a lot of collateral damage and fallout that's hurting a lot of people.” Ida referenced government spending cuts, including cuts affecting education.
AAPI adults comprise a small segment of the U.S. population, representing about 7% of the nation's residents in 2023, based on a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. They do not form a pro-Trump voting bloc. In the previous election, even English-speaking Asian U.S. voters showed only a slight tilt towards Trump, with approximately a third supporting him, up from 29% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
The new poll indicates that they harbor particular worries about the economic trajectory and remain anxious about high costs.
About two-thirds of AAPI adults, 65%, express being "extremely" or "very" concerned about the potential for the U.S. economy to fall into recession, compared to 53% of Americans in general who said the same in an April AP-NORC survey.
“On the economy, you saw AAPI voters shift — not in a big way, but shift nonetheless — toward Trump” in the 2024 election, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director of AAPI Data and a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. “They are not seeing big economic benefits pan out. Quite the contrary, they are seeing significant economic risks emerging based on Trump's tariff actions." Shopan Hafiz, a 39-year-old independent engineer at Intel in Oregon, described his view of Trump as “very unfavorable,” lamenting the Republican president's tariff policy, which he expects will impact American consumers in the months ahead.
“With all the tariffs, I don't think it's going to help,” Hafiz stated. “All the tariffs will ultimately be paid by U.S. nationals, and inflation is going to worsen.”
The poll arrives amid Trump's intermittent threats to impose tariffs in pursuit of what he claims is his goal of rectifying the nation's trade imbalance. In June, inflation spiked to its highest level since February as Trump's tariffs pushed up costs for household goods, from groceries to appliances.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June compared to the previous year, the Labour Department reported last week, up from a 2.4% annual increase in May. Monthly prices climbed 0.3% from May to June after a mere 0.1% increase the prior month.
Like Hafiz, Ida, the teacher from Hawaii, did not vote for Trump in the last election. Instead, both voted for Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver. Hafiz's decision opposed the two major U.S. parties' backing of Israel in its Gaza conflict. Ida cited the two major parties' perceived extremism.
Ida is among approximately two-thirds of AAPI adults who express being "very concerned" about escalating grocery costs. He has noticed fears of higher prices within his Pacific island state, even more so in ethnic businesses, given Hawaii's reliance on shipped goods.
“Here in Hawaii, because we're so isolated, everything comes on a ship or a plane,” he explained. “We're especially vulnerable to rising prices and supply chain disruptions. There's definitely some anxiety there.” (AP)
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