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Nikki Haley urged to work on gaining AAPI support

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Lenn Almadin Thornhill | TFC News New Hampshire

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is fighting to topple a giant - her former boss and the leading GOP candidate - Donald Trump.Haley and Trump are the final candidates for their party&#x27;s presidential nomination after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew from the race, following a second place finish at the Iowa caucus.<div><a data-ved="2ahUKEwiuk9GU5_ODAxXwrVYBHYB2D9AQFnoECB0QAQ" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/16/24/trump-passes-major-us-election-test-with-win-in-iowa" jsname="UWckNb" ping="/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/16/24/trump-passes-major-us-election-test-with-win-in-iowa&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiuk9GU5_ODAxXwrVYBHYB2D9AQFnoECB0QAQ">Trump passes major US election test with win in Iowa</a></div>“Trump says things,&quot; said Haley, a former South Carolina governor. &quot;Americans aren&#x27;t stupid to just believe what he says. The reality is who lost the House for us? Who lost the Senate? Who lost the White House? Donald Trump.&quot;The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration is doing well in the polls in New Hampshire.But Haley still trails Trump ahead of the high-stakes primary on Tuesday.A recent survey done by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Data and Associated Press shows that Haley still has a lot of traction to gain among Asian American voters.Haley is an Indian-American born to Sikh immigrant parents.“You see a very large proportion of Asian Americans who don&#x27;t know enough about her to form an opinion,&quot; said AAPI Data founder and director Karthick Ramakrishnan. &quot;You have more unfavorable than favorable opinions of Nikki Haley.”Ramakrishnan said this is something that the Haley campaign should pay attention to.“You go past Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina to the Super Tuesday states, you&#x27;re going to have a lot of Asian American voters in those states,&quot; he added. &quot;It&#x27;ll be important for Haley to increase her name recognition and her favorability among Asian Americans in those states.”Voters, according to Filipino-American history professor James Zarsadiaz, are always looking for that connection with the candidates.“People who are co-ethnics wanna hear what kind of connection,&quot; he said. &quot;They have to feel as though that their voice is going to be heard.&quot;Zarsadiaz added: &quot;Even if their political leanings may not align with the candidate, they just want to know that if they&#x27;re going to be in that role in that office, that they actually see that person as one of them.”Genevieve Santiago was born and raised in New Hampshire. She is an independent voter who plans to cast her ballot on Tuesday for Haley.“I think if she really leans into her background of being a child of immigrant parents,&quot; said Santiago, &quot;she&#x27;d be able to relate a lot more [not just] to Asian Americans, but also to a lot of other ethnic groups in America.”But for Fil-Am voter Leigh Boucher, voting for Haley is not an option.“She&#x27;s basically Hillary Clinton 2.0,&quot; said Boucher. &quot;Her policies are not America first. If a candidate does not put America first in their policy, then for me as an Asian American, that&#x27;s a red flag.”

The AAPI community weighs in on Haley's bid for the GOP presidential nomination.