The growing costs of healthcare, grocery bills and housing are top concerns for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults – and they want Congress to address all three.
That was a key takeaway from a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC Poll of Congressional priorities for Asian and Pacific Islander adults. According to the survey published earlier this month, the price of health care was the top issue for nearly 8 out of 10 people who identify as AAPI. Food inflation came in second (for nearly three in 10 people) and housing third (more than six out of 10). About 4 in 10 adults who identify as AAPI listed aging and long-term care as the top issues they want Congress to prioritize, tying with childcare, higher education, and gas.
The survey was conducted amid the mid-March federal budget battle.
As the Trump administration has made headlines for moves to fire huge numbers of federal employees and cut funding for educational and health programs, most AAPI adults believe the government is spending too little on these policy areas. AAPI adults told pollsters they feel not enough is going to education and healthcare, especially. Addressing homelessness, environmental problems, childcare and crime were also top priorities.
Only about 12% of AAPI survey respondents were concerned that too little is being spent on the military with slightly more than half saying defense spending is too high.
“The data show that amid economic uncertainty, AAPI adults—like much of the U.S. public—are focused on basic necessities,” Jennifer Benz, deputy director of The AP-NORC Center, said in a statement. “Healthcare, food, and housing costs remain at the forefront of their concerns, reinforcing the importance of economic stability, which has consistently emerged as a major issue for AAPI communities.”
Other findings from the poll include:

• The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative headed by Tesla honcho Elon Musk is unpopular with the vast majority of AAPI adults. Only a little more than one in 10 support slashing federal agencies; About 23% of the general population, however, supports Musk’s and Trump’s plans in this area.
• At least 6 in 10 AAPI adults, however, see corruption, inefficiency, and “red tape” as major problems in federal government.
• A little less than a third of AAPI adults want local police to always cooperate with federal immigration authorities on deportations. That’s compared with 42% of the general population. More than half of AAPI adults, however, said some cooperation is warranted.
• About four in 10 AAPI adults see a need to boost security at the U.S.-Mexico border and about a three in 10 have the same view of the necessity of deporting undocumented immigrants. A third of AAPI adults think expanding guest worker programs is also a pressing issue and only two in 10 consider “allowing refugees to enter the United States to escape violence” a high priority.
• Around than three-quarters of AAPI adults hold pharmaceutical companies and private health insurers as responsible for the high costs of care in the U.S.
  – Adam Smith