Vietnamese Americans Shift More Left From Right #LamNenLichSu

Until recently, Vietnamese Americans have long been considered one of the more conservative bases of the Asian American groups. There has been a shift in which Vietnamese Americans are leaning more towards the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

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According to the recent National Asian American Survey, Vietnamese Americans in 2016 identified themselves as 29% Republicans and 45% Democrats. In comparison, Vietnamese Americans in 2012 identified themselves as 36% and 32% respectively.

Historically, Vietnamese American seniors leaned towards the Republican Party due to the party's strong stand against communism and the party's support for stronger national security. However, as immigration issues have taken priority, the Democratic Party is able to gather more support from Vietnamese Americans immigrants.

Vietnamese Americans are also taking on a stronger political presence on social media. The hashtag #LamNenLichSu, which translates to “let’s make history,” has been trending on FaceBook to support the Presidential Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, as the first female president.

The shift of Vietnamese Americans leaning more towards the Democratic Party than the Republican Party will play a role, in not only in the 2016 election, but also the way these two parties market themselves to Vietnamese American voters.

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Viviane Nguyen She is a lover of politics. She has researched and worked in different levels of government in San Jose, Sacramento, Washington D.C., and Thailand. She is motivated to highlight issues impacting the Vietnamese-American community and Asian American communities at large. She was formerly a Cal-in-Sacramento Fellow at UC Berkeley and notably a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the Goldman School of Public Policy. She wants to write to show why politics, especially in 2016, is important.

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