57% of Asian Americans Feel Unsafe in Public, Poll Shows

May 27, 2021

As reports of anti-Asian incidents increase amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of Asian Americans feel unsafe to be in public, according to a new poll.

Key findings: The survey, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 57% of Asian Americans now feel at risk “often” or “sometimes” because of their race.

Of 1,842 adults polled, 344 were Asian Americans.
A greater majority (71%) of Asian Americans feel that anti-Asian discrimination has surged over the past year.
Around 67% feel “extremely” or “very” concerned that COVID-19 has stoked violence against Asian Americans, while 17% are “somewhat” concerned.
There are also significant partisan differences as 65% of Democrats feel “extremely” or “very” concerned, compared to just 22% of Republicans.
The only group feeling more unsafe in public than Asian Americans were African Americans (63%).

Why this matters: Of the 6,603 anti-Asian incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2021, most unfolded in public spaces.

According to the report, most incidents occurred in places of business (32.2%), followed by public streets or sidewalks (29.4%).
Other public sites of discrimination included transit (8.7%), parks (8.4%), schools (5.5%), universities (3.1%) and places of worship (1%).
Some 8.8% of the incidents took place in private residences, while a larger 9.1% occurred online.
Majority of the victims were Chinese (43.7%, out of all the Asians polled), women (64.8%, of all ethnicities) and aged 26-35 (30.3%, no specification on gender).
Verbal harassment (65.2%) and shunning (18.1%) made up the largest proportions of all incidents.

Last week, President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to expedite the review of anti-Asian hate crimes and allot grants for incident hotlines and law enforcement training.

Featured Image via Jason Leung

Share this Article