The Activation of Anti-Asian Attitudes on Vote Choice

Abstract Political science research has assessed how racial attitudes influence political behavior. However, less is known about the political effects of anti-Asian views, even as anti-Asian sentiment resurfaced during the pandemic. We theorize that the linkage of COVID-19 to Asian Americans by political elites activated anti-Asian animosity and shaped vote choice during the 2020 election. Using cross-sectional over time and panel data from the American National Election Studies, we find that holding more anti-Asian attitudes was not associated with Republican vote choice between 2008–2016, including when Donald Trump first ran. However, anti-Asian views became strongly related to voting for Trump in 2020. Further panel analysis demonstrates evidence that anti-Asian views measured prior in 2016 increased the likelihood of vote switching to the Republican Party in 2020. We conclude by discussing the potentially persisting political effects of anti-Asian attitudes in an environment continuously characterized by anti-Asian hate and especially during future election cycles that may feature increasingly diverse candidates of Asian heritage, running for elective office across various levels of government—including for the presidency. This study contributes to research on how and when racial attitudes influence political behavior and suggests, again, the centrality of race and ethnicity in American Politics.