Trump and Harris’ clash over immigration misses mark with Asian-American voters: analysts
Trump’s remarks about migrants eating pets may alienate sections of the Asian electorate, while Harris did not outline an immigration policy
Former US leader Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris missed opportunities to score points with Asian-American voters in their debate, according to observers who also note Trump’s inflammatory remarks may overshadow what could have been a substantive discussion on immigration.
Analysts point to racial undertones in Trump’s comments about migrants eating pets that may alienate swathes of the Asian electorate who identify with immigration issues, while on regional matters, one expert argues not enough focus was given to the Asian theatre, particularly India’s role in resolving geopolitical conflict.
Asian-American voters, who comprise about 6.1 per cent of the US electorate, could play a pivotal role in the presidential race given how close recent polls have been. An Ipsos poll from August found that Asian-Americans preferred Harris to Trump by an average of 23 percentage points.
Trump could have scored brownie points with this community if he had suggested a more liberal visa policy for education and professional workers, said Yashwant Deshmukh, an independent political commentator.
“I was expecting Trump to make a distinction like that,” he added, noting that Harris too did not outline a policy on immigration that demographic sections such as Asian-Americans would have wanted to know about.
In the highly anticipated session on Tuesday night American time, Harris accused Trump of invoking illegal immigration as a tactic to scare voters. Trump fired back by claiming migrants were eating people’s pets.
