This story was originally published by the Vietnamese language Nguoi Viet.
By Trà Nhiên
LITTLE SAIGON, Calif. – Three weeks after the November 5 general election, preliminary results show a majority of Vietnamese voters in Little Saigon continue to lean Republican.
While historically conservative Orange County, home to the nation’s largest Vietnamese enclave, has in recent years trended Democrat — with both Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 pulling in more votes than their Republican rival and now President-elect, Donald Trump — post-election data from the Orange County Elections Department show down ballot Republican candidates faring better among Vietnamese voters.
In the US House race for District 45, which spans parts of Orange and LA counties, incumbent Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, who is Korean American, nearly beat out her Democratic opponent, Vietnamese American Derek Tran. Tran narrowly picked up the seat after garnering more votes in LA County.
The tightly contested race was the most expensive among down ballot candidates this cycle, to the tune of $46 million. The final tally had Tran with 157,622 votes, compared to 157,041 for Steel, a difference of just 581 votes. Steel’s strong showing owed much to the support among Vietnamese voters.
Other Republican candidates saw decisive wins, including Republican State Senator Janet Nguyen, who handily beat her Democratic opponent, Cypress Councilwoman Frances Marquez, in the race for Orange County Supervisor, District 1. Nguyen took 61.24% of votes compared to 38.76% for Marquez.
Likewise in the race for California House of Representatives, District 70, incumbent Republican Congressman Tri Ta is far ahead with 54.70% (95,686 votes) compared to Attorney Jimmy Pham with 45.30% (79,244 votes).
Republican Party and the Republic of Vietnam
Ngoc Nguyen lives in Westminster, which straddles Little Saigon.
“The aunts and uncles I talk to often see a connection between the Republican Party and our Republic of Vietnam, so they loyally vote for the party,” she said, referring to the former name of South Vietnam prior to its defeat by communist forces in 1974.
The Vietnamese term Cộng Hòa translates to “Republic” and forms part of the name used for the Republican Party, đảng cộng hòa.
“I am an independent voter, I do not vote according to party,” Nguyen added. “I think each party has its own advantages, so we focus on voting based on policy. Choose people, not parties.”
Not so for others.
Nguyen Kim Binh is vice president of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, an organization representing Vietnamese refugees who came to the US after the 1980s. Many Vietnamese, says Nguyen (no relation to Ngoc Nguyen) “idolize” Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
“The Vietnamese perspective is, ‘prosperity is better than decline,’” explains Nguyen, who says such attitudes have “long driven Vietnamese voters towards the Republican Party.”
Bread-and-butter issues
Doctor Ngo Ba Dinh is an activist and organizer in the Little Saigon area. He says while he was dissatisfied with the results of the presidential and local elections, he acknowledges “the election was democratic, very fair.”
When it comes to Vietnamese voter attitudes, he notes that concerns tend to revolve around bread-and-butter issues. “Vietnamese voters focus on money, food, clothing, they worry about gas prices … so they are easily swayed by Republican promises to take care of the economy, to drive economic development.”
On geopolitics, many favored Trump’s hardline against China and, by extension the communist government in Vietnam. “Vietnamese people voted for Donald Trump because they thought he was strong and believed in his demagoguery against China and against the Vietnamese communists, even though he was dictatorial and undemocratic,” said Ngo.
Regarding Republican threats to cut into the social safety net, including Social Security and healthcare spending, which many in the Vietnamese community rely on, Ngo says Vietnamese voters were swayed by arguments about benefits for new arrivals, something he says they saw as being funded by their own tax dollars.
That Democrats defend the social support systems many in the community rely on is lost at the polls as a result.
“Vietnamese people don’t like new immigrants receiving government benefits because they think they are siphoning off their tax money, so when the Republican Party comes up, even if they cut benefits, they will accept it,” said Ngo.
That sentiment is echoed by many interviewed for this story.
Candidate identity less relevant
Janet Thai of Garden Grove first started voting in 1990.
“I am a working person who pays taxes. I cannot accept newcomers who do not work but have the Democratic Party stretch the budget to enjoy benefits,” she said.
Regarding Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, including language many deem racist and anti-Asian: “I have never heard Trump disparage Asian people,” she noted.
On selecting Vietnamese candidates, Thai said, “I vote according to human values and abilities, not always for my Vietnamese compatriots.”
Thai was among those who cast her vote for Steel in the race for District 45, saying the Republican “knows how to bring money into the district, and speaks up about human rights in Vietnam.”
Fears of crime and open borders
Another voter who gave her name as Mary said she voted for Trump because of his promise to deport unauthorized immigrants, which she blames for crime, and to end Obamacare, officially the Affordable Care Act, which she says Democrats employ as justification for higher taxes.
“They force people to pay taxes and then take the money to fund wars abroad,” she said.
Data has consistently shown that immigrants in the US commit crimes at rates well below US born citizens.
More than 45 million Americans, meanwhile, are currently enrolled under the ACA, which Trump says he wants to replace, something he tried yet failed to do during his first term.
“Mr. Trump cutting Obamacare is right!” she exclaimed, adding she knows people in her community who funnel money to their children to lower their tax rate and qualify for public benefits, a claim that is hard to verify yet explains the skepticism toward such programs among some voters.
“My husband and I have worked hard since coming to America … we don’t receive government benefits, and we’re not dependent on anyone at all,” she shared.
Like many voters in the community and country, Linda Pham of Westminster said she simply wants to see change.
“I feel like there have been too many robberies in the past four years, so I don’t feel secure when I go out,” she said, adding that although Mr. Trump has a bad temper and often says many “incorrect things,” he will solve these issues.
“Over the past four years, I saw that the situation was not getting better, so this year I voted for truly worthy candidates,” Pham added.
