March 12, 2025
As Congress faces a March 14 deadline to avoid a partial federal government shut-down, a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC Poll finds that most Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adults think the federal government should prioritize addressing the costs of health care (79%), food (67%), and housing (61%). About 4 in 10 say the same about the cost of aging and long-term care (45%), childcare (43%), higher education (42%), gas (42%), and home energy (37%). These preferences to see progress on costs are persistent with views largely unchanged from over a year ago in December 2023.
Many believe the government is spending too little on a variety of policy areas, with education (64%) and healthcare (59%) topping the list. Similar shares also say funding is insufficient for tackling homelessness (57%), environmental protection (57%), childcare (56%), crime (54%), and drug addiction (48%). Defense is the only area where relatively few (12%) say spending is too low and about half (52%) believe the government spends too much.
The poll also shows that AAPI adults are not supportive of major changes to the federal workforce under President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. About a quarter favor moving federal agencies outside Washington, D.C. (25%) and cutting a large number of federal jobs (24%), similar to the level of support of the general public in January 2025. About 4 in 10 of both AAPI and U.S. adults support a proposal that would bring federal employees back to an office five days a week, but just 12% of AAPI adults support eliminating entire federal agencies, even lower than the 23% of the general population.
Despite the lack of support for the DOGE proposals, AAPI communities see the issues that the initiative aims to address as major problems. A majority view corruption (72%), inefficiency (68%), and government red tape (61%) as major problems in the federal government, closely aligning with the general public. However, concerns about civil servants resisting the president’s agenda are lower in both groups, with 30% of AAPI adults and 34% of the general population considering it a major issue.
As parts of the country grapple with a measles outbreak, about 6 in 10 AAPI adults are concerned that declining vaccination rates will lead to more disease outbreaks (64%) and deaths (61%).
Most across AAPI communities (72%) favor restrictions on processed foods, slightly higher than the general population (66%). There is less consensus on other recent health proposals. Views on removing fluoride from drinking water among AAPI adults are split: 31% favor, 32% oppose, while 37% remain neutral. Similarly, 27% support reconsidering vaccine recommendations, though 35% oppose the idea and 37% are neutral. Just 18% favor removing restrictions on raw milk sales, while 40% are opposed and 41% are neutral.
AAPI communities largely trust doctors (74%) and nurses (72%) to act in their best interest, similar to the general public in a 2021 survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists (64%) are also trusted by most AAPI adults, though at a slightly lower level than the general public (75%). Trust declines for other healthcare professionals, including mental health counselors (52%), public health officials (43%), and alternative medicine practitioners (30%). Confidence is especially low for health insurance providers (23%) and hospital executives (19%).
Similar to the general population, most AAPI adults hold pharmaceutical companies (77%) and private health insurers (73%) responsible for the high cost of healthcare in the United States. About half also view the federal government (58%) and healthcare providers (51%) as contributing factors.
On immigration policy priorities, AAPI adults express mixed views: 42% consider increasing security at the U.S.-Mexico border a top priority for the federal government and 29% say the same about deporting undocumented immigrants. Thirty-three percent think expanding guest worker programs is also a pressing issue and 19% consider allowing refugees to enter the United States to escape violence a high priority.
AAPI adults are divided on expanding green cards and visa programs, with similar shares favoring increasing or maintaining current levels, with few supporting reductions. About 4 in 10 support increasing green cards for backlogged countries (44%), worker visas (43%), or family-sponsored green cards (40%), though nearly as many prefer to keep current levels unchanged. Student visas receive the least support for expansion at 34%, with half (50%) preferring no change.
Thirty-one percent of AAPI adults believe local police should always cooperate with federal immigration authorities on deportations, compared with 42% of the general population. More in both groups support cooperation in some cases (56% and 49%), while relatively few say local police should never cooperate with federal authorities (13% and 8%).
The nationwide study was conducted by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AAPI Data from February 4–11, 2025, using the Amplify AAPI Monthly Survey drawing from NORC’s Amplify AAPI® Panel designed to be representative of the U.S. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander household population. Online and telephone interviews were offered in English, the Chinese dialects of Mandarin and Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Korean with 1,170 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders aged 18 and older living in the United States. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.7 percentage points.
