RECAP: AAPI Progressive Talks #5

Last week we had an opportunity to hear from Michigan and Wisconsin organizers on two crucial states in the coming election. While both have historically been swing states, where victories were determined by a 1-2% margin, 2016 was the first time in a long time that we did not come out on top. That’s why every single vote matters, no matter where you’re voting. 

Special thanks to our panelists Jasmine Nears and Tee Vang from Wisconsin, and Patrick Schuh and Aamina Ahmed from Michigan for sharing their knowledge and experience and for doing the hard work on the ground. 

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from each state:

Wisconsin

  • A good indicator of whether or not we’re reaching undecided voters is seeing consistent polling above 50%. While Biden is polling 6 points ahead of Trump, neither of them are at 50%. 

  • BIPOC voters are soft on Biden support. So it’s not just about getting BIPOC folks out to vote, but also giving them a reason to get behind Biden. And that’s going to take multicultural coalitions. Roughly 20% of Wisconsin’s population is people of color. 

  • Vote by Mail increased 4-6% to 62% this past spring. Spring election voting data showed that 43% of those that voted by mail plan to do so again in November, 70% of these voters identify as progressives. 

  • While AAPIs make up just 2% of the Wisconsin electorate with just over 85,000 voters, it’s crucial that we all show up at the polls in November. In 2016, Trump won the state by just 23,000 votes. 

Michigan

  • Tremendous population shifts drove our success up and down the ballot in 2018. Our multicultural coalition, growing communities of color, and AAPI voters are key to that growing coalition. We must continue to adapt our strategies to recognize these shifting demographics.

  • Michigan is likely on track to see 60-65% vote by mail absentee voting. But that means that over 2 million voters are still going to show up in person. And there are less than 40 days until voting by mail starts for those that choose to. 

  • Aamina on 2016: “What we found in the AAPI community, is that similar to previous cycles, no one really talks to us. We’re not part of the Black/White dichotomy… But when Asian Americans walk into a room, especially in progressive organizing, people don’t really know what to do with us.” 

  • Aamina on 2018 canvassing: “There’s opportunities ripe for organizing. We did a small pilot canvas with a 49-52% response rate at the doors. And we attributed it to the fact that we had young people and women knocking doors who looked like or similar to the residents and voters whose doors we were knocking at.”  

  • Political education is almost non-existent in AAPI communities, especially for those that migrated as adults. This lack of education mixed with massive amounts of misinformation and counter-messaging on social media like WeChat and WhatsApp means that there is much work to be done in creating culturally sensitive content and scripting. 

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Want to learn more? Keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter for the next installment of AAPI Progressive Talks. You can also watch some of our previous webinars where we discuss other battleground states, Covid-19’s impact on the AAPI community, and recent AAPI polling data.

 
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