Issue 63 • NOVEMBER 1, 2023
👋 Good morning, and welcome back to The Yappie’s AAPI politics briefing — your guide to the policy news and activism affecting Asian Americans + Pacific Islanders. S
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— Edited by Shawna Chen
THE BIG STORY
A volunteer helps register voters. Photo courtesy of APIAVote
AAPI Data teams up with Associated Press to launch new monthly survey
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T
he partnership between AAPI Data and the AP’s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research will be the first disaggregated monthly survey of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, who have been historically overlooked and/or misrepresented in public opinion polling.
📃 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The monthly survey, launching this month, will poll AAPIs on critical issues including their policy priorities, political views, and experiences with hate and discrimination.
It will pull from the NORC and AARP’s Amplify AAPI panel, which features Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander participants who are surveyed and interviewed in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Korean.
Why it matters: “The AAPI community is incredibly diverse. Fully appreciating and understanding that diversity is essential for effective polling as well as policy making,” Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and director of AAPI Data, said in a press release.
Despite being one of the fastest-growing racial groups in the U.S., AAPIs remain largely invisible when it comes to public opinion polls, which serve as a pulse on critical topics like presidential candidates and inform efforts to engage voters of a specific demographic.
AAPIs comprise about 3% of those represented in national polling even though AAPIs make up nearly 7% of the total U.S. population, according to Neil Ruiz, the associate director of race and ethnicity at Pew Research Center.
Participation in such surveys has also stayed stagnant due to language barriers and a lack of trust and familiarity with pollsters.
“Even in recent election years, sample sizes for Asian Americans have been relatively small, and sample sizes among Asian Americans two decades ago were too small to report trends from Asian Americans confidently,” Ruiz told ABC News’ Stacy Chen.
More importantly: The umbrella term of AAPI obscures key cultural and socioeconomic nuances among different ethnic groups, which face severe disparities in income, health, and education.
“Experts say we have reached a point where maintaining the status quo of aggregated data validates the myth that AAPIs exist and move as one,” The Yappie’s Andrew Peng, Javan Santos, and Mary Yang reported last September.
“Failing to install a coherent standard clouds our ability to track long-term trends which could unmask health disparities, close educational gaps, and illuminate centers of economic inequity most directly affecting NHPIs.”
In their words: “Comprehensive data that reflect the experiences and perspectives of all demographic groups are the foundation of high-quality public opinion polling and analyses,” Jennifer Benz, deputy director of the AP-NORC Center, said in a statement.
“With this partnership, we are amplifying the voices of AAPI populations to address the historic underrepresentation of AAPI communities in public opinion and news stories.”
— By
Katrina Pham
AAPI NATION
👉 Here’s what else is happening across America…
🏡 After decades of discussion, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court has allowed thousands of Native Hawaiians to collect $286 million in funds as a result of a homestead lands settlement, writes Stewart Yerton for Honolulu Civil Beat. The ruling is an attempt to provide some relief for Hawaiian beneficiaries who have waited for years to lease the lands.
📜 An intermedia exhibit commemorating Alaska’s Filipino community debuted last weekend at Anchorage Museum, Anchorage Daily News’ Annie Berman reports. Titled “Mana: The History We Inherit,” the showcase is a collection of anecdotes and stories from Alaska’s Filipino elders with the purpose of preserving the population’s powerful culture.
🎞️ New York City’s Chinatown honored Chinese photojournalist Corky Lee by co-naming Mosco Street “Corky Lee Way,” AsAmNews’ Shirley Ng reports. The Asian American advocate used his photography to document the forgotten and excluded histories of Cantonese and Toisan people who are descended from Chinese railroad workers.
🎤 Comedian Hasan Minhaj apologized to followers after admitting that he embellished some of his stand-up stories in an interview, NBC News’ Angela Yang reports. He posted a 20-minute video online last Thursday to provide thorough explanations and rebuttals after a New Yorker piece accused him of lying about his experiences with racism.
🎨 Museums around the country are working to keep Korean art in the spotlight, New York Times’ Ted Loos writes. There are at least five exhibitions solely dedicated to Korean art that will be displayed at major U.S. art museums this winter.
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— By
Rachel Lee
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Preston Lieu