If there’s a key takeaway from the newly released STAATUS Index on the nation’s attitudes toward Asian Americans, native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islander Americans, it’s that several longtime misconceptions have gotten worse.

Released in time for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the comprehensive report shows Americans’ stereotypes and prejudices toward Asian Americans have persisted, in many cases, alongside ignorance.
One glaring example stood out: A staggering 40% of Americans suspect to some degree that Asian Americans are more loyal to their country of origin than to the United States of America. That rate skyrocketed from 21% just five years ago.

But that’s not the only concerning statistic. The research also found that Americans in general are likely to view Asian Americans as less friendly to “non-Asians” than to other groups. People also singled out Chinese Americans specifically ­— with more than a quarter of Americans suspicious that the minority group posed some type of risk to society — including as threats to national security, job security, and cultural norms. Around 40% of Americans also supported legislation that would prevent foreign nationals from specific countries, including China, from buying property in the U.S., even if they are long-term residents.

The survey also found that knowledge of the societal and economic contributions of various Asian Americans was also severely limited among Americans in general.
When asked, for example, to name a famous Asian American, many people could not name one, and those who did, gave names like Bruce Lee, who died a half century ago, or action star Jackie Chan, who is not even Asian American.

Notably absent from the list of first responses were high-profile chief executives like Taiwanese American Jensen Huang, who runs the computer chip giant Nvidia, or Lisa Su, who heads semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, or even Indian American Satya Nadella, who is at the top of Microsoft. Also absent were people like John Yang of PBS Newshour or famed longtime journalist Connie Chung, or investment guru Thomas Lee.

Also, despite naming old stars of martial arts movies as famous Asian Americans, the respondents failed to name historic figures such as American citizen Fred Korematsu, who fought his incarceration during World War II.

For perspective on the findings of the 2025 STAATUS report, Sampan spoke by video chat with Sruthi Chandrasekaran, the director of data and research, at The Asian American Foundation, who produced the survey. The following has been edited for clarity and length.

Sampan: The first thing that just stood out here was finding that 40% of Americans, in some way or another, believe that Asian Americans are more loyal to their countries of origin than the U.S. Could you talk about that?

Chandrasekaran: Great question. I agree that it’s a stat that did stand out to us quite a bit. And I think it speaks to a stereotype that we’re all very familiar with, the perpetual foreigner, where the Asian American community is always othered and seen as an outsider. And that stat speaks to how our community is being seen as a foreigner.

We also have some findings around how we continue to be described as “exotic,” as a “foreigner.” … But I think the other stat that’s really interesting is the one about alien land laws, and the support for alien land laws. And so while I think of something like the loyalty stat is being symptomatic of a bigger problem, which is that when people start believing in these kinds of stereotypes, then they start othering us, and that has implications for the community … real implications for the everyday lives of Asian Americans. And so I think that can be quite startling to see that kind of increase over the years, and to think about, “What does this mean for our community?”

Sampan: Another question found that around 27% of Americans think that Chinese Americans are a threat to U.S. society. Could you talk about your views on what that means?

Chandrasekaran: I think, again, it’s very startling to see that more than a quarter of Americans see Chinese Americans as a threat, and especially around national security, but also around some other areas. And I think it speaks to the stereotype around the “yellow peril,” we’re seeing, especially East Asians as a threat to Western society. And you can see that it also kind of resonates with that other finding that only 44% of Americans really strongly agree that it was a wrong of the United States to detain Japanese Americans during World War II. And I think, again, that’s sort of like seeing Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, as as a threat. … I think it really speaks to the continuance of that stereotype in our everyday fabric of society….

Sampan: Since you mentioned Japanese incarceration … do you think that part of that view of Americans has to do with a lack of education around the Japanese incarceration and a lack of education around constitutional rights? Or do you think it’s largely this kind of view that, ‘Well, they’re different. They’re not real Americans,’ or, you know, ‘They’re somehow not loyal to the country because of their parents’ or whatnot. Did you have any thoughts on that?

Chandrasekaran: … When asked to name a historical event that has had an impact on Asian Americans, about 53% were unable to come up with one. When they do come up with something, I think one of the top answers is around Japanese American incarceration. So I would say awareness is pretty limited…. So, I think definitely the lack of awareness is a big issue.

But I think what’s also promising is that people in general seem supportive of education – be it about the history and the contributions of Asian Americans or teaching about racism and structural discrimination in schools, people seem to be supportive of that. In general, in schools and in communities, I think there is support for more education. So I think it speaks to that lack of knowledge, like you pointed out.

Sampan: I wanted to also talk about this strange kind of — maybe it’s a contradiction, or maybe it’s just two different groups of people answering — but you still seem to have this pretty persistent view around this long-standing kind of model minority myth. How does that jibe with these other views of some Asian Americans being a threat to national security, or that they shouldn’t buy property, or that the internment camps were justified and this sort of thing. How can you have that, and still have this persistent stereotype that Asian Americans supposedly have these attributes that are seen as is stereotypically better?

Chandrasekaran: … You’re absolutely right. I think there are … opposing forces at work…. On the one hand we are seen as, you know, sort of like the model minority – seen as smart, hard working, nice, keeping our heads down, getting the work done, reliable, and respectful, rather than assertive, or like leaders or authoritative, but more like good at math….So those kinds of things, and … you juxtapose that with like that, you know, the threat factor, (the misperception that we’re) disease carriers, foreigners, outsiders; I think we’ve seen sort of like this juxtaposition of these stereotypes over generations, right? These are not new stereotypes. We’ve had these around for several years, decades I would say. I think we continue to live in that sort of like meld of all of these different stereotypes….

So what implications does it have for our everyday lives? The report talks about the lack of, you know, belonging, lack of acceptance … that we feel unsafe in many everyday spaces. … You just need to look back a few years with like Covid, for instance, where we had all of these stereotypes coexisting, and it only took a few sparks to rise to the level of the kind of violent hate that we saw against the Asian American community….

Sampan: A question asked about, Who do you think of when you think of a famous Asian American person? I was surprised that there wasn’t any presence from people who are prominent CEOs…. What, if anything, about that question and answer surprised you…?

Chandrasekaran: I think for us, what is striking is that, you know, it’s been five years since we launched STAATUS, and this is a very popular question for us. We ask this every year, and we have noticed every year that the majority are not able to name a person, and when they do name someone, it’s Jackie Chan, who is not Asian American. It’s Bruce Lee, who died over 50 years ago. Despite, the elections and everything happening last year, you know, the former vice president Kamala Harris only came in at third place…. So, I think it does speak to the invisibility of Asian Americans. We did not see any – like you said – CEOs make their way into the top percentages….