Korean Americans favor Trump by a narrow margin. That’s according to a presidential candidate preference poll conducted by the Korea Daily to gauge Korean-American sentiment ahead of the November election.
The difference between the two candidates, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, was only about two percentage points. In other words, they were split within the margin of error.
When asked “If you were to vote today, which candidate would you choose?”, more than half (50.6%) of Korean Americans chose Trump-Vance. Harris-Walz was chosen by 47.8% of Korean-American respondents. When asked about the odds of winning the presidency, it remained close at 51.8% for Trump and 47.5% for Harris.
The preferences varied when broken down by age. Among respondents in their 20s and 30s, 55% chose Trump and 45% said they would choose Harris. Younger respondents were more likely to favor Trump than Harris, which is a trend that diverges from the national electorate trend. Among those in their 40s and 50s, 60% of respondents chose Trump. In contrast, seniors aged 60 to 80 chose Harris (52.3%) over Trump (47.7%).
The survey asked respondents to choose three key issues that led them to choose a candidate. The economy (73%) was the most popular issue among Korean Americans. Immigration (56.4%) and social justice (55.3%) were also high on the list, followed by defense (39%), foreign affairs (36%), and the environment (24.7%).
When asked if they think the U.S. is currently headed in the right direction, nearly one in two (47.7%) said they “strongly disagree”. Another 16.8% said they “somewhat disagree”. Only 4.9% said they “agree”. Taken together, the responses indicate that three out of five Korean Americans (64.5%) have a negative view of the current state of affairs in the U.S.
The Korean-American presidential candidate preference poll was conducted over three weeks from September 9 to 29 through the Korea Daily’s website (koreadaily.com). A total of 1,684 people participated nationwide. In California, 1,126 people participated in the survey. Of the respondents, 83% said they would vote in the upcoming election.
In the poll, Korean Americans also expressed their hopes for the candidates. The comments included, “I want them to work together for America and our allies, not fight,” “fair competition with no rigging,” “honesty and leadership,” and “looking forward to a president who is more future-oriented than the past.”
In early October 2020, a poll conducted by the Korea Daily about a month before the presidential election revealed that 53% of Korean Americans believed the Trump-Pence campaign had a higher chance of winning the election.
BY BRIAN CHOI, HOONSIK WOO [choi.inseong@koreadaily.com]
