More than 25 percent of people say Chinese-Americans are a ‘threat’ to the US, poll finds

More than a quarter of Americans think Chinese-Americans are a threat to U.S. society, a new poll released Thursday revealed.

The Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S., or STAATUS Index, found that 40 percent believe Asian Americans are more loyal to their countries of origin than the U.S.

This comes just five years after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the U.S. experienced a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.

Twenty-seven percent said they were “at least somewhat concerned” that “Chinese Americans are a threat to U.S. society, especially around national security.”

Meanwhile, 63 percent of Asian Americans say they felt unsafe in at least one daily setting, according to the index, which was released on Thursday at the start of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The same number of Asian Americans say that it’s at least somewhat likely that they will be subjected to discrimination in the next half-decade based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. Thirty-three percent of white Americans believe they will be victims of discrimination within the next five years.

Conducted between January 22 and February 25, the survey included 4,909 respondents over the age of 16.

Forty percent of Asian Americans, compared to 71 percent of white Americans, completely agree that they belong in the U.S. They are also the least likely to believe they belong in online spaces, on social media, and where they live.

Roughly two-fifths of Americans back legislation banning foreign citizens from some countries, such as China, from buying land.

Forty-four percent of Americans strongly agree that the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II was wrong.

The CEO of The Asian American Foundation, Norman Chen, a co-founder of the index, told Axios that “One of the most alarming results over the past five years has been the doubling of this perception of Asian Americans as more loyal to their country of origin.”

“It questions the loyalty and patriotism of Asian Americans in this country,” he said, adding that the poll also found that most Americans still believe the myth of the “model minority” — that Asian Americans are overachievers who are “good at math.”

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the U.S. has seen rising antisemitism, anti-Arab American, and anti-Muslim incidents hit the headlines, removing focus from anti-Asian hate crimes, the outlet noted.

According to the poll, 42 percent of Americans can’t name a famous Asian American, with Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan being named by 11 percent, Bruce Lee by six percent, Kamala Harris by four percent, and Lucy Liu by three percent.

However, the index also found that almost 80 percent of Americans back specific efforts to uplift Asian American communities and roughly 41 percent support legislation that Asian American history be taught in schools.