AAPI adults see benefits of immigration, most oppose current enforcement practices
Many think Trump has gone too far with his immigration policies. And, with the cost of living a source of stress for the vast majority of AAPI adults, few think Trump’s policies have helped their economic concerns.
Topics covered: immigration, the economy, Trump favorability
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Key Survey Takeaways
- A majority of AAPIs think that Trump has gone too far in using the U.S. military to intervene in foreign countries. 71% of adults say that Trump has gone too far and only 4% say he has not gone far enough. 89% of Democrats think he has gone too far compared to 34% of AAPI Republicans.
- AAPI adults are more likely to have unfavorable views of ICE: 73% have unfavorable views compared to 60% of the general population. About 9 in 10 Democrats view ICE unfavorably among both AAPI and general populations, while 61% of AAPI Republicans and 71% of Republicans overall hold favorable views.
- Trump’s immigration policies are not popular among AAPI adults. 67% agree Trump has gone too far when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. 23% say he has been about right and 10% say he has not gone far enough.
- Cost of living is a large source of stress. 8 in 10 AAPI adults cite the cost of groceries, cost of health care, and cost of housing as sources of stress, including half who say each as a major source. Very few say these financial concerns are not sources of stress at all.
- Optimism for future generations is low. Just 29% of AAPI adults think it is likely that young people today will have a better standard of living than their parents.
- A large number of AAPI adults believe Trump has contributed to increasing the cost of living. A majority say that Trump has hurt rather than helped the cost of living (73%), cost of health care (69%), and job creation (62%).
- AAPIs see the benefits of immigration. 75% of AAPI adults say economic growth is a major benefit of legal immigration and 54% say the same about illegal immigration. AAPI adults are more likely to see economic growth as a major benefit of illegal immigration than the general population (42%).
Few AAPI adults agree with current immigration priorities and many think Trump
Most AAPI adults, 61%, think that Donald Trump has done more to hurt than to help immigration and border security so far in his second term. Only 28% say Trump has done more to help.
AAPI adults are more likely to say that he has hurt immigration and border security than the general population (61% vs 42%).
These views are particularly strong among younger and Democratic AAPI adults. Seventy-four percent of AAPI adults age 18 to 29 say Trump has hurt immigration and border security compared to 50% of those age 60 and older. And 82% of Democrats hold this opinion compared to 22% of Republicans.
Cost of living is a major source of stress
Half of AAPI adults say that the costs of groceries, housing, health care, taxes, and the amount of money they earn are major sources of stress in their lives. And 39% report that the amount of money they have saved is a significant stressor. Very few say these financial concerns are not sources of stress at all. These findings align with general population.
AAPI adults are less concerned about credit card and student debt. Nearly three in four say that student debt is not a source of stress, and half say the same about credit card debt.
AAPI adults in households making less than $50,000 are more likely than those in households earning $100,000 or more to say the amount of money they get paid (62% vs. 39%), the costs of groceries (62% vs. 40%), health care (58% vs. 47%), and credit card debt (36% vs. 21%) are major sources of stress. AAPI adults 60 or older are more likely than adults younger than 30 to report the amount of money they pay in taxes is a major source of stress (51% vs. 31%), while younger adults are more stressed about the amount of money they get paid (50% vs. 34%) and student debt (23% vs. 9%).
Few think Trump’s policies have helped their economic concerns and AAPI adults have unfavorable views of Trump administration officials and agencies
Most AAPI adults say that, so far in his second term as president, Trump has done more to hurt the cost of health care and living, and job creation. AAPI adults are more likely than the general population to say he has hurt each area asked about.
Donald Trump’s overall job approval within the AAPI population stands at 30%, and similar share approve of his performance on the economy and health care, based on findings from the AAPI Data/AP-NORC January 2026 Poll.
AAPI adults younger than 30 are more likely than adults 60 or older to say Trump has hurt the cost of living (79% vs. 62%). AAPI Democrats are more likely than AAPI Republicans to say Trump has hurt job creation, and the costs of health care and living. AAPI Republicans tend to be split on whether he has helped, hurt, or had no effect on the cost of living and health care costs.
About 20% of AAPI adults express a favorable opinion of Trump, JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Marco Rubio. Their favorability ratings are lower among AAPI adults than among the general U.S. adult population, according to a February 2026 AP-NORC Poll.Views of each political official are heavily influenced by partisanship.
Study Methodology
The nationwide study was conducted by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AAPI Data from February 2-9, 2026, using the Amplify AAPI Monthly survey drawing from NORC’s Amplify AAPI® Panel designed to be representative of the U.S. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander household population. Online and telephone interviews were offered in English, the Chinese dialects of Mandarin and Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Korean with 1,197 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders aged 18 and older living in the United States. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.6 percentage points.