DURHAM, N.C. — As a slow September weekend morning turns into afternoon, Annar Parikh finally gets a voter to answer the door.
After giving an overview of some of the local candidates in the North Carolina election, Parikh asks the woman if she plans to vote in the presidential election.
“It’s personal,” the woman says before closing the door.
The 26-year-old tagged the house in a voter database for North Carolina Asian Americans Together, a nonpartisan organization focused on voter registration in the Asian American community.
“This is typical of our community,” said Parikh, an NCAAT field manager, as he peeled a clementine and talked about how arduous it can sometimes be to reach voters in the swing state.
There are more than 360,000 Asian Americans in North Carolina. Indian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the state, with a population of nearly 110,000.
The voters Parikh wants to reach are valued by presidential campaigns. In an election that is effectively a dead heat, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is working to tap into the two fastest-growing voting blocs in the United States — Asian Americans and Latinos, particularly in the seven swing states.
Asian Americans have received relatively little attention in the presidential campaign, and Harris herself has not particularly emphasized her South Asian background — her mother was an Indian immigrant and Harris, if elected, would be the first president of South Asian descent.
“My challenge is to ensure that I can speak to and listen to as many voters as possible and earn their vote, and I will never assume that anyone in our country should elect a leader based on their gender or race,” Harris said said in an interview with NBC News on Monday night when asked if sexism was a factor in the race.
While Republican candidate Donald Trump has held events with Latino voters, one of his first major appeals to Asian American voters will be a Turning Point PAC event in Nevada on Thursday with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii .
Target communities
Also on Thursday, the Democratic National Committee launched a campaign across the country to reach out to Asian American, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. The campaign will provide polling location information and multilingual advertisements in Florida, Texas and New York.
About 15 million Asian Americans are eligible to vote in this presidential election, a 15% enhance in eligible voters compared to 2020. according to the Pew Research Center.
An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, a 12% enhance in eligible voters compared to 2020. according to the Pew Research Center.
The Harris campaign has run targeted ads targeting Asian American voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, focusing on her economic proposals.
Also the campaign published an advertisement specifically for the struggling state of Nevada with Asian American compact business owners. Nevada is a swing state with one of the largest shares of Asian American population in the country at 11%. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by just over 33,000 votes.
The Harris campaign has also launched a WhatsApp outreach effort in the Latino community and unveiled an “opportunity” on Tuesday agenda for Latino men.”
Grassroots campaigns reflecting Asian American voting blocs have also emerged in Harris’ name, such as South Asians for Harris, Chinese Americans for Harris, Korean Americans for Harris, Latinas for Harris and Latino Men for Harris.
Bring voters to the polls
On-the-ground efforts like voter registration and voter mobilization can be a monumental effort in a close presidential race.
“The cause of the low voter registration rate is the same cause of the lack of information surrounding voting. “So we want to make sure that we’re not just registering people, but we’re talking to them about how voting works, where they can vote, how they can vote early,” said Jack Golub, community engagement program manager at North Carolina with the Hispanic Federation, a group that promotes civic engagement in the Latino community.
Nationally, the voter registration gap for Latinos — the difference between eligible voters who have registered and those who have not — is about 13.2 million, which is at its highest level Current 2022 data from UNIDOS, a Latino advocacy group.
The Trump campaign largely focused on gaining traction with Latino voters through roundtables with political leaders as well as a town hall for undecided Latino voters hosted by Univision. Separately, Harris also attended a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters.
A Monday poll showed that Harris continues to outperform Trump among Latino voters in the battlegrounds of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
When it comes to Asian American voters and Trump, his rhetoric during his first term around the coronavirus and the China link may have played a role A study shows this has fueled anti-Asian sentiment among Trump voters.
But Steven Cheung, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to States Newsroom that the former president was a champion of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and “created an environment of diversity, equity and prosperity.” would be offered to everyone.”
“Anyone who says otherwise is disgustingly exploiting the AAPI community to play political games for their own gain,” Cheung said. “The 2024 campaign is designed to build on the strength and successes of Asian Americans during President Trump’s first term to propel him to a…victory in his second term.”
It depends on politics
With Harris at the forefront of the Democratic presidential nomination following Biden’s withdrawal last summer, more Asian American voters plan to support her than when Biden was in the race comprehensive survey from AAPIVote and AAPI Data.
The slow September poll also found that 66% of Asian American voters said they would vote for Harris, compared to 28% of Asian American voters who said they would vote for Trump. About 6% were undecided.
Chintan Patel, the executive director of Indian American Impact, said that while he has seen enthusiasm for Harris leading the presidential race, politics, particularly economics, still matters to the South Asian community.
“Yes, the community is excited about the opportunity to elect a South Asian president, no question, but we also ask: What are their plans?” he said.
His organization focuses on electing Indian Americans and has endorsed Harris.
“One of the things that I think really resonates with the community is her plans around the economy, creating an opportunity economy, particularly to support small businesses,” Patel said. “Small businesses have been such an important and important part of mobility for South Asian Americans, particularly the immigrant story, the first generation story, that’s how we viewed mobility.”
Harris often talks about her slow mother’s roots. But that appears to have little impact in some parts of North Carolina’s South Asian community — a surprise to Eva Eapen, an 18-year-old recruiter for NCAAT.
Eapen, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she expects more excitement in the South Asian community if Harris picks up the torch for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of commitment. I don’t know if it’s due to lack of information. I don’t know if it’s a lack of mobilization, but they don’t really care,” she said. “Perhaps it is more a politics of nationality than Hindi?”
Several South Asian voters States Newsroom spoke to in North Carolina made similar comments. The fact that the Democratic presidential candidate was South Asian did not guarantee their vote, instead they expressed concern about the cost of living and the economy.
Ikamjit Gill, 28, said the biggest issues that brought him to the polls were inflation and the economy.
“It’s not a big deal to me,” Gill said of Harris’ background.
Gill said he is a registered Democrat and voted for Biden in 2020, but this year he is considering voting for Trump. He said he was laid off from his tech job under the Biden administration and got his first job under the Trump administration.
“I’ve been unemployed for a while,” he said. “I just want some variety.”
Vishal Ohir, 47, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he was initially leaning toward voting for Trump but was impressed by Harris during the presidential debate in September. He liked her detailed plans for housing and the economy.
Ohir said he is still undecided, but ultimately he wants a presidential candidate who can get the cost of living under control because “everything has gone up.”
Arvind Balaraman, 53, of Wake County, North Carolina, said he is frustrated that wages have not kept up with the cost of living. He said he wasn’t particularly excited about a South Asian candidate running for president. He just wants his grocery bill reduced.
“Everything has doubled, tripled,” he said of prices. “They’ve had two different parties in the last two semesters and the prices are still going up.”
Balaraman said he is still undecided but still plans to take part in the presidential election.