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Henry Nguyen, a Biden supporter, finds it very difficult to speak politically with his parents, who will vote for Trump next November.
According to a poll conducted by three Asian-American organizations, released on September 15, of 1,569 Chinese-American voters, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines, 54% of respondents plan to vote for the Democratic candidate Joe Biden, while only 30% support President Donald Trump.
However, the Vietnamese are the only Asian group that favored Trump over Biden. Of the Vietnamese voters registered to vote, nearly half are in favor of Trump and a third in favor of Biden. It is also the only Asian group in the poll that favors Republicans over Democrats, although 34% identify as non-party.
For Henry Nguyen, 28, the above result is a reminder of the growing divide between the younger generation of Vietnamese with more liberal views and those of conservative parents.
“The older generation came from the refugee experience,” Henry said. “They believe in the army and in violence because they come out of the war.”
Trump campaign posters at a Vietnam shopping mall in Falls Church, Virginia. Image: Joe Nam Do / DC Office of the Mayor for Asia and Pacific Islands Affairs.
Henry, who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015, lives with his parents in Hawthorne, Los Angeles. Although he spends a lot of time reading the news and participating in Vietnamese political activist groups on Facebook, he finds it difficult to discuss politics with his parents, who will vote for Trump in November. .
Henry intends to vote for Biden, saying the Democratic candidate’s support for people with disabilities is one of the main reasons. Current limitations of the Disability Act “make it difficult for people like me to get internships or a job promotion,” he said.
Growing up, Henry also had a conservative opinion due to the influence of his parents. It only changed when he dropped out of college. “When I was in high school, I took a family perspective and when I was in high school, I never really talked about politics,” Henry said.
Gina Nguyen, a freshman at the University of Southern California, Biloxi, Mississippi, also became interested in politics only after Trump was elected.
“I definitely believe in climate change and issues like gay rights,” Gina said. “But even some of the biggest problems right now, like abortion, marijuana, I never thought of before 2016.”
Gina said that her mother’s indifference towards politics was the reason she never thought about politics. Although he moved to the United States in 1995, this was the first year he registered to vote. Gina said her mother only signed up after learning of the raids and riots in the anti-racist protest movement Black Lives Matter (BLM).
Although Gina supported BLM and was in the group that voted for Biden, her mother voted for Trump.
“I tried to talk to my mom about this, but it was very difficult,” Gina said. “If I try to explain my point of view, the conversation becomes angry and angry, that excites Mom. So I’m scared to talk about this.”
Alex Luu, a 24-year-old poet from the San Gabriel Valley, describes himself as “a Democrat in a house full of conservatives.” However, he is not concerned that his parents will vote for Trump in November because they did not vote.
Liu’s parents tend to be conservative, but they are frustrated by the delay in Trump’s response to Covid-19. They also didn’t like the fact that he called Covid-19 “the Chinese virus” or “the Wuhan virus,” increasing hatred against Asians. However, these feelings were not enough for them to vote.
“The only time they voted was for Bill Clinton, because my father liked the way he ran the economy back then,” Liu said. “Due to our middle class status, they think that whatever happens is not going to affect us directly unless it is about taxes.”
Members of VietRise, an organization founded by young Vietnamese, marched against the Trump administration to expel Vietnamese immigrants in December 2018. Image: VietRise.
Two-thirds of Vietnamese-American voters said they consider work and the economy an “extremely important” issue in the upcoming elections. This rate is higher than that of all the other groups in the survey.
Like Gina, Liu will vote for Biden, although he will vote for any Democratic candidate. Liu thanked the candidates who support prison reform, spend more budget on education and advocate for people of color. Liu also grew up with a conservative mindset due to the influence of her parents.
“My father is the head of his family and his groups of friends, so everyone agrees on a lot of what he says,” Liu said.
His opinion changed in his senior year, when he performed in poetry contests for the first time and heard about the experiences of other people of color.
“That’s when I gain empathy for other people, with different classes and their struggles,” Liu said. “My friends and I don’t talk politics at school.”
The lack of political discussions is a common problem among the elderly Vietnamese-American community, said Joe Nam Do, a community organizer with the Washington Mayor’s Office of Asia-Pacific Affairs. , talk.
“Unfortunately, I think that many Vietnamese Americans are indifferent and will not vote,” said Do. “I think this reflects what you see a lot in America: the enthusiasm on the Trump side, the grim support for an uninspiring Biden.”
Due to the assumption that many Vietnamese voters support Trump simply because of his tough stance towards China, something Gina also sees in her mother. Relations with China appear to be one of the most important issues for older Vietnamese voters.
In the previous poll, a third of Vietnamese said that US foreign policy in Asia was a “critically important” issue, the highest percentage among Asian groups.
Gina and Henry emphasized that the influence of friends and social media fueled Vietnamese conservatism. While Gina’s mother discussed current affairs with friends at her temple, Henry’s parents learned about politics through pro-Trump videos on YouTube. Since their parents were not in college, they developed negative views on immigration based solely on these information channels.
Liu believes that the lack of access by voters is another reason why his parents ignore the presidential elections. About half of those surveyed said they had had no contact with either Democrats or Republicans in the past year.
“My parents think that as long as we take care of ourselves, we will be fine. This country will function as it is and we should just be fine,” Liu said. “I feel that politicians have not done everything possible to raise awareness about the issues that really affect us.”
Luu hopes for a younger generation of Vietnamese descent who will be more active and politically active. “The fate of the country depends on the strength of each one of us,” Liu said. “Why waste such a historic moment?”
Mr. Ngoc (Follow USC Annenberg Media)
