“In coalition politics, every part of the coalition matters, especially when elections are close. For Democrats, Asian-Americans are suddenly crucial: They are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. electorate, constituting 4.7 percent of the voting population — enough to make a difference in the presidential contest in Georgia, where Joe Biden won by some 12,000 votes.
Nationally, Asian-Americans voted for Mr. Biden over Donald Trump by a ratio of about 2 to 1, according to exit polls, marking a decades-long shift toward the Democratic Party. (In 1992, 55 percent of Asian-Americans voted for George H.W. Bush and 31 percent for Bill Clinton.) There is reason to believe this shift will continue: Though a third of Asian-Americans voted for Mr. Trump, 83 percent of Asian-Americans ages 18 to 29 voted for Mr. Biden.
Asian-American activists have argued for a while that the Democratic Party has not paid their community sufficient attention. What lessons might Asian-Americans have to teach? Their ability to form a solid majority around a shared politics despite their many differences is a model for the Democratic coalition — indeed, for the whole nation. They show that both identity and political ideology matter, not just one or the other.”
Source: Opinion | What the Asian-American Coalition Can Teach the Democrats – The New York Times, Dec. 16, 2020, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Mr. Nguyen is the author of the novel “The Sympathizer” and its forthcoming sequel, “The Committed.”