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Asian Americans are the fastest-growing voting group in the country. They helped Democrats win and swing states in 2020. This year, polls are even tighter in states like Pennsylvania. So how and whether Asian Americans vote is an even bigger factor. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram reports from Philadelphia.
JAMES DELOS REYES: OK. So I've given out the assignments.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: It's exactly one month before Election Day, and James Delos Reyes is waiting for the last few canvassers who are coming to knock on doors. The meeting spot is in the parking lot of Philadelphia's only Jollibee's.
DELOS REYES: Jollibee is McDonalds of the Philippines.
SHIVARAM: Delos Reyes works with an advocacy group for Asian and Pacific Islander voters called API PA, and he's driving out to knock on doors for Kamala Harris. This Jollibee's opened up two years ago. He says it's the group's de facto meeting spot, and it also speaks to their mission.
DELOS REYES: It's indicative of just, like, how much this area has grown in Asian population.
SHIVARAM: AAPI voters are still a tiny slice of the state's electorate and have often been overlooked. But in the last decade, the number of eligible AAPI voters here grew by a whopping 55%. And voter engagement is growing, too.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Screaming).
SHIVARAM: Meanwhile, at a fall festival in neighboring Montgomery County, Neil Makhija is showing off a brand-new voting van.
NEIL MAKHIJA: So you can see in here, we've got three staffers who have terminals.
SHIVARAM: It's a van where people can register to vote and cast their ballot on the spot. Makhija is the commissioner of this county. And he says it's important to meet voters where they are.
MAKHIJA: We will show up at Diwali events. We'll show up at events for the Korean American community, and we'll have all of our language assistance guides available, no matter where we are.
SHIVARAM: With so many languages and cultures within the AAPI community, engagement takes extra labor and is costly. But in tight races, it can pay off. President Biden won Pennsylvania by a razor-thin margin in 2020, in part thanks to huge turnout from AAPI voters.
MAKHIJA: The lesson from 2020 was that no matter how small a community is, they matter, especially in a time when the country is so polarized.
SHIVARAM: It's a lesson that both parties are starting to learn. While Asian Americans overwhelmingly vote blue, they don't tend to strongly identify with a party, which makes them somewhat persuadable, especially in key states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. Harris, who is Asian American herself, has been doing specific outreach to AAPI voters with ads airing on Asian American media outlets on issues like crime. Former President Donald Trump's approach has been broader. This summer he visited a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: I don't know what it is. You'll have to explain it. But the Vietnamese community loves me, and I love them.
SHIVARAM: Until around 2020, there wasn't much outreach to AAPI voters from Republicans or Democrats.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHIVARAM: And this has led to many feeling like politics just isn't for them, like Jamie Min, who was with his friends at a kimchi festival in Philadelphia. He's 29, Korean American and says he cares about issues like the economy and immigration. But he doesn't vote.
JAMIE MIN: I know a lot of my friends - Asian American friends - don't vote. And I think it's mostly, like, the culture of just kind of being second class almost, and we kind of feel like we don't have a voice.
SHIVARAM: That feeling is what Linh Nguyen is trying to change. She leads AAPI Victory Fund. It's a political action committee that backs Harris. This year, they've put out mailers that have pictures of families eating hot pot for dinner, and they're working with AAPI influencers and bloggers to try and engage with young voters directly.
LINH NGUYEN: To think of where we were six years ago, eight years ago, 10 years ago, I hate to say this, but we were barely on the map. And the understanding of who and what it means to be Asian in America was just not there in mainstream politics.
SHIVARAM: But she says the growth and investment in AAPI voters in the last 10 years has been remarkable. She says it'll impact next month's election and will pave the way for future elections in 2026, 2028 and onward. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, Philadelphia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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