Americans’ Attitude towards Asian Americans in Trump Administration

• In Event: Asian American Attitudes and Anti-Asian Sentiment in the Trump Era

Abstract

In recent years scholars have considered the determinants of Americans’ attitude towards Asian Americans. In particular, scholars have explored perceptions of Asian Americans associated with concepts of "model minority" or "forever foreigners." However, few studies have focused on the effects of the President's rhetoric on how Americans think about Asian Americans. How does President Trump's rhetoric associated with Asian Americans change Americans' Attitudes? To what degree does the negative rhetoric influence perceptions of Asian Americans? Can rhetoric relate to other minority groups also affect perceptions of Asian Americans? Are there differences in the President's rhetoric on Asian Americans among different racial and political groups?

In this paper, I explore the effects of the President’s rhetoric on how Americans evaluate Asian Americans. Using data of Nationscape data from 2019 to 2020, I hypothesize that the President’s rhetoric affects evaluations of Americans' perception of Asian Americans. The Nationscape data includes data (and common core questions) for +6000 respondents each week from July 2019 to June 2020, so this provides an opportunity to trace attitudes toward Asians over the course of the time period, which includes harsh rhetoric by President Trump relating to the “Chinese flu.” I suggest further that the perception of Asian Americans varies among different racial and political groups. My argument is that political groups aligned with the President, such as Trump supporters, react to Trump's rhetoric by developing more negative views toward Asian Americans. Meanwhile, political and racial groups that are not satisfied with the President do not respond to the President's rhetoric or react negatively.

Authors

• Dan Qi, Lamar University

• James C. Garand, Louisiana State University