What Do Taiwanese American Voters Care About in the Upcoming U.S. Election?

TaiwanPlus News

What issues do Taiwanese American voters care about come U.S. presidential election time? TaiwanPlus asked a few of them in different parts of the country to learn what's on their mind as November 5 approaches.

Transcript

00:00Jackson Chang moved to the U.S. from Taiwan in the 1970s, settling in Houston, Texas not

00:09long after.

00:11The 64-year-old is marking his 50th year in the country, which he proudly calls home.

00:17And Houston is the place where he built his business.

00:20I have a business, real estate, and doing the developing company and also construction

00:27company.

00:28Like many Americans, Chang is getting ready to hit the voting booth to help choose America's

00:32next leader.

00:34Voters will be asked to pick a new president, Republican candidate Donald Trump or Democratic

00:40candidate Kamala Harris.

00:42At stake are several issues, including immigration, women's reproductive rights, and the economy.

00:49For Chang, a Republican, the choice is ideological.

00:53Republican to me is more of a capitalist.

00:57It's more of a you spread wealth around.

01:01And to me, you need to work.

01:03You don't just hang out for money, but Republican, you work, you get, you have a reward.

01:13That sentiment of working hard and creating wealth is shared by other Taiwanese-American

01:18Houstonians like realtor Kenneth Lee.

01:21He also moved to the U.S. at a young age and helped foster the city's thriving Asian-American

01:27community.

01:28Lee has watched generations of Asian immigrants move to the U.S. in search of a better life.

01:35He says immigration policy is what he'll be thinking about when he casts his vote in November

01:41because he sees the value immigrants bring to a country.

01:45Immigrants take jobs away.

01:48We said, no, immigrants actually bring their whole life savings, bring capital, and then

01:56create jobs.

01:57As immigrants, we help the country to grow.

02:02But besides the big national issues, there are others at play as well.

02:07Houston-based attorney David Hsu is the son of Taiwanese immigrants.

02:11His family came when he was a young child, and he now has a family of his own.

02:17Now in his 40s, Hsu says public safety is his primary concern and that he's watching

02:22local elections closely.

02:24In Texas, there's a lot of positions already elected, and one of them are judicial elections.

02:29So judges are elected by the main population.

02:32So it's very important to have judges that you want to elect judges that maybe put a

02:37priority on public safety.

02:39Hsu, who votes Republican, is politically closer to first-generation Taiwanese-Americans

02:45like Jackson Chang.

02:47Younger voters tend not to share their views, something Chang has observed even within his

02:52own family.

02:53My wife says we're all Republicans, but my kids are all Democrats.

03:00Over in the Texas state capital, Austin, young people from the local chapter of the group

03:05Taiwanese American Professionals get together at a local restaurant.

03:09Chapter president Hannah Huang offers a glimpse of what many younger Taiwanese are focused

03:14on for November.

03:15Some of the issues I care about are what the immigration policies are for upcoming candidates,

03:22and then also issues about women's rights, issues around student loan debt.

03:30Some of the attendees are also invested in issues specific to Texas, one of the most

03:35conservative states in the U.S., which has banned abortion in almost all cases.

03:41I guess a big issue for me, especially in Texas, is regarding women's reproductive health

03:48care rights.

03:50It's been a huge, I feel like, hot-button issue with a lot of people.

03:53The range of issues Taiwanese-Americans care about is like the community itself, diverse.

04:00Taiwanese-American voters are varied in age and background.

04:04But come election time, their votes will carry all the same weight in determining America's

04:08future.

04:09Devin Tsai, Jeremy Olivier, and Leslie Liao in Texas for Taiwan Plus.

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