Who were the Filipino “Trumpers”?

The US elections is over and Biden won by 306 electoral votes over Trump’s 232 votes, a 14% margin. In the popular vote, Biden got 79 million over Trump’s 71 million, a 6% margin. Given these figures, we can assume that 55% of the Americans voted for Biden and 45% were for Trump. These were the pre-election poll predictions in most of the surveys, and given the margin of error of (+ or –) 2%, it is well within range. Another interesting statistic was that 80% of the African-Americans voted for Biden and 20% voted for Trump; it was 70% to 30% among Latinos, and 60% to 40% among Asian-Americans. These 40% Asian-Americans includes the Filipino-Americans, and this column will give us insights on who are these Fil-Ams who voted for Trump.

The reason Trump generates strong emotional reactions, not just from Americans but from people all over the world Filipinos included, is because Trump brings out the worst in people. His flawed character, his lack of morals and ethics, his bullying ways, and his checkered governance, are things many or most would generally not want our children to emulate. But there are also people who admire his ability to get away with what he is doing. His dubious business tactics, his ability to bounce back from bankruptcy and tax avoidance/evasion are admired by his followers. He gets away with telling fake news, stating unsupported statements or lying because his supporters filter information and believe only what they want to believe. And these are not just the non-college graduate rural Americans, but also some college-educated professionals and even Christian evangelicals, among the Blacks, Latinos, and Asian-Americans. So, the vehemence of his supporters is countered by the strong reactions by those who cannot stand Trump.

The 45% Trumpers which includes the Fil-Ams, may be broken down as follows: 20% are middle-aged, non-college educated who live away from the cities, are individualists/isolationists conservatives, pro-gun lobbyists, maybe racists, and wary of liberal ideas. They like their lives now and don’t want any changes, so they are Trumpers now and will support the next politician who will preserve their way of life. The next 15% of the Trump voters are the “anti-elite” middle class who are in the fifties and sixties who believe that they have not really benefitted from the growing wealth of America, because the Democratic governments have been pampering the minorities and the emigrants with unemployment benefits and subsidies. They are against more foreigners entering the US as they believe it will affect their opportunities and financial status. These are false sentiments as America is a nation of migrants and multi-culturalism has made it prosper, 70% of the people in Silicon Valley are non-native Americans. The remaining 10% of the Trumpers, are upper-class white Americans who believe that the Democrats will increase taxes of those earning over $400,000 a year, and other taxes that will affect them. They are also against the universal healthcare programs that they believe will be funded by additional taxes that will move the US closer to the European welfare model. While these are valid concerns, the world will eventually move to a more equitable distribution of wealth.

So, where are the Fil-Ams in all these Trumper categories? They are predominantly in the 15% second tier, and a little in the 20% hardcore and in the 10% upper class. In the US, Fil-Ams are better off financially than other minorities and they are more assimilated to the American society. They absorb the American middle-class values and culture easier and faster than other minorities. Trump was just the personality that catered to their biases and sentiments at this time. The world is changing and with the young Fil-Ams with liberal progressive ideas, Trumpism will eventually decline.