South Asian American Voters in Texas Strongly Prefer O’Rourke, Citing Gun Control and Abortion Rights as Top Issues
By Anika Dandekar and Evangel Penumaka
Previous survey research of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has found that Indian Americans were the most likely to vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. New polling from Data for Progress and Indian American Impact of 281 South Asian American likely voters in Texas provides a unique look at this growing electorate. We find that Beto O’Rourke leads incumbent Governor Greg Abbott by a large margin. South Asian American voters also prioritize gun control and abortion rights as key issues for this election. Voters continue to view the Democratic Party favorably — trusting it on issues including climate change, education funding, immigration reform, and voting rights.
O’Rourke South Asian American Voters’ Choice for Governor
Among likely South Asian American voters in Texas, O’Rourke holds a lead of +33 points over Abbott, with 65 percent preferring O’Rourke and 32 percent preferring Abbott. Only 1 percent of South Asian American voters prefer a third-party candidate for governor, and 2 percent are undecided.
South Asian American Voters’ Attitudes
When asked about the top three issues that they believe Congress should prioritize, South Asian American voters primarily mention noneconomic issues: Forty-two percent name gun control and 41 percent name abortion rights as their among their top issues. The next-most important issues to South Asian American voters are economic ones: Twenty-eight percent choose jobs and the economy, and 24 percent say inflation. This contrasts from our national polling tracking issue importance, where voters are more likely to view the economy with greater importance than issues like abortion rights.
We then asked what would make South Asian American voters more likely to vote. Voters report that a mix of more engagement and information from political parties and more ease of getting to the polls would make them more likely to vote. Forty-five percent of South Asian American voters, for example, say they would be more likely to vote if they saw more efforts from political parties to learn about the issues their communities care about, while 32 percent say they would be more likely to vote if they received more information about candidates from the campaign. When it comes to more access to the voting booth, 31 percent say they would be more likely to vote if they had more time to vote early, and 30 percent say they would be more likely to vote if there was a more convenient process to get registered to vote, such as automatic voter registration. We also find 15 percent say they would be more likely to vote if they heard more about candidates from friends or family on social media.
We then asked these voters whether they trust the Democrats, Republicans, or neither party to handle a range of issues. A majority of South Asian American voters in Texas overwhelmingly trust Democrats on many issues, including:
Reproductive rights, at 71 percent
Democracy and voting rights, climate change and the environment, and gun violence, all at 67 percent
Advancing racial and religious equity, at 63 percent
Costs of higher education and student loan debt, at 58 percent
Voters also trust the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party to handle immigration reform and pathways to citizenship by a +22-point margin, and foreign relations and national security by a +10 point margin.
On issues of crime and the economy, South Asian American voters are more split:
On crime and public safety, 40 percent trust the Democratic Party, 36 percent trust the Republican Party, and 20 percent trust neither party
On the cost of living, 39 percent trust the Democratic Party, 34 percent trust the Republican Party, and 23 percent trust neither party
On the economy in general, 38 percent trust the Democratic Party, 37 percent trust the Republican Party, and 21 percent trust neither party
We then asked these voters whether or not they feel that political parties care about people like them. A plurality of South Asian American voters in Texas (48 percent) say the Republican Party does not care much about people like them, 24 percent feel that neither political party cares much about people like them, and 22 percent feel that the Democratic Party does not care much about people like them.
Conclusion
This survey finds that South Asian American voters in Texas strongly prefer O’Rourke over Abbott for governor. This is perhaps unsurprising once we learn that gun control and abortion rights are among the top issues they want politicians to focus on, and that South Asian American voters trust the Democratic Party on these key issues. Texas Democrats should note, however, that nearly half of likely South Asian American voters say they would be more likely to vote if the party made more efforts to understand the issues the South Asian American community cares about. These voters could determine the margin of victory in key battleground races.
Anika Dandekar (@anikadandekar) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Evangel Penumaka (@evangelpenumaka) is a lead analyst at Data for Progress.