2025 AAPI Policy Priorities Survey
The AAPI Policy Priorities Survey is an in-depth look at the issues that are most important to the AAPI community. Data from this survey can be used to guide effective messaging, advocacy, and mobilization efforts through fall 2025 and beyond. The survey is co-created by AAPI Data and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA).
Topics covered: economy, immigration, health, reconciliation bill, Donald Trump, Congressional priorities
Key Survey Takeaways
Cost of living is the top issue on the minds of AAPI adults (58%), while only 25% mentioned immigration as the most important issue facing the country. In December 2024, immigration received the top mention, as 42% of AAPI adults indicated that the issue was important to them personally.
64% of AAPIs think Trump and Republicans have gone too far on immigration enforcement, with 40% strongly opposing the use of military and National Guard to support immigration enforcement
AAPI adults are highly persuadable on the reconciliation bill. When asked only about benefits of the bill such as extending tax cuts, 41% were in favor. However, when tax cuts were mentioned alongside cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, 70% were opposed. These results indicate that AAPI adults oppose tax breaks if they come at the cost of cutting healthcare benefits such as Medicaid.
56% of AAPI adults said that healthcare costs were the most difficult item to afford and a majority (60%) strongly support the government placing limits on costs of prescription medication. Voters of all ages also support allowing cities with high housing costs to freeze increases in rent.
AAPI adults largely disapprove of Trump, with 75% viewing him unfavorably. This unfavorability is high across age, gender, and ethnicity.
Community education can be employed in effective ways to reach AAPI communities: 30% of AAPIs did not know enough about their Representative in Congress to answer about their favorability rating.
AAPI adults trust the Democratic Party more on a range of issues, except for immigration and crime, where neither party has an advantage. And neither party is seen as addressing the needs of young voters..
Narratives
- The AAPI community prioritizes financial stability and affordability above other issues; other issues vary depending on the group identity. Cost of living and inflation are the universal top issues, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. This is consistent with the rest of American voters. This is further reinforced with polling that shows a majority of AAPI support for policies that freeze rent in HCOL cities (58%) and federal support limiting medical expenses (84% for medication, 82% for care). The next highest priority is Jobs and the Economy, which further reinforces the importance placed on wages, affordability, and day-to-day expenses by most. Japanese and Koreans are exceptions who instead prioritize Preserving Democracy. However, even post-Dobbs abortion/reproductive rights and education still consistently rank the lowest compared to other issues, indicating a lower priority for social issues.
- Ethnic and generational differences reflect the complexity within the AAPI community. Asian Indians, who have among the highest levels of income and educational attainment among Asian American groups, opposed the costs of the reconciliation bill and are more cautious than other groups about cuts to government benefits. Japanese Americans place a very high importance on the issue of Preserving Democracy, which is perhaps reflective of their collective experience of mass incarceration during World War II. Vietnamese Americans tend to be among the most disadvantaged with respect to education and income, and lean Republican politically, making them unique among other ethnicities in the AAPI community. Nevertheless, they responded consistently with other AAPI groups on almost all issues. Filipino respondents in the survey were more favorable to Trump/Republicans than other AAPIs and tended to align more closely with them on strict immigration enforcement.
- Age is also a large indicator of priorities. Younger voters are more likely to rank healthcare and the economy as their highest priorities. While older voters are more likely than younger voters to prioritize Preserving Democracy, there is also a sharp increase in support for preserving democracy among those 65+. Younger voters are more likely to see their support for the reconciliation bill shift based on whether they are informed on the costs, benefits, or both. Older voters see less fluctuation in those views and are more likely to support the work requirements for Medicaid benefits.
- Large majorities of AAPI adults think that there is too little government spending on education (66% of AAPIs), healthcare (70% of AAPIs), and the environment (59% of AAPIs), while half think there is too much defense and military spending. Democrats are slightly more trusted than Republicans on a range of issues, except for immigration and crime, where neither party has a clear advantage. Similarly, neither party is viewed as doing a good job in addressing the needs of young voters.
- Views on immigration indicate opposition to current policies. There is strong opposition to Trump’s approach to immigration and the heavy-handed tactics (deportations, ICE in public places, military for immigration enforcement). However, about 20% find themselves in the middle, neither supporting nor opposing. However, there is some diversity of opinion by ethnicity. A near majority of Filipinos support sending the military to enforce immigration (46%), and over a quarter support sending them to public places (28%) or allowing enforcement agents to be masked and refuse to provide identification (29%). Over 30% of NHPIs also support the policy of immigration enforcement in public places. A majority of all AA and NHPIs view birthright citizenship as a high or very high priority (63% and 70%).
- When it comes to particular issues prioritized by AAPI members of Congress, survey respondents gave high priority to preventing hate crimes and ensuring that the elderly can retire with dignity and security. Additional issues receiving high priority include protecting high-quality public education and protecting the right of anyone born in the United States to be a U.S. citizen.
- A large majority of AAPIs view Trump and the Supreme Court unfavorably, while opinion is split on their state governor and Member of Congress. Trump is broadly unfavorable among all AAPI groups (75%) with the strongest support coming from Filipinos (37%). There is a mistrust of the Supreme Court, with the majority of AAPI groups holding a very unfavorable or somewhat unfavorable view (29% and 28%, respectively). State governors had slightly more favorable responses but still failed to reach majority approval (46%). Democratic state governors fare better than Republican governors. Finally, about 30% of respondents don’t know enough about their congressional representative to form an opinion, showing the need for additional outreach and education.
Study Methodology
This survey was sponsored by Community R&D and designed by AAPI Data and NCAPA. Data were collected 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 (AANHPI) household population. In addition to English, the survey was offered in the Chinese dialects of Mandarin and Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Korean, depending on respondent preference. Panel members were randomly drawn from the Amplify AAPI Panel, and 1,046 completed the survey—1,042 via the web with 4 by telephone. The overall margin of survey error is +/-4.8 percentage points. More details on methodology can be found in the survey crosstabs document.