What issues do Taiwanese American voters care about come U.S. presidential election time? TaiwanPlus asked a few of them in different parts of the country to learn what's on their mind as November 5 approaches.
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00:00Jackson Chang moved to the U.S. from Taiwan in the 1970s, settling in Houston, Texas not
00:09long after.
00:11The 64-year-old is marking his 50th year in the country, which he proudly calls home.
00:17And Houston is the place where he built his business.
00:20I have a business, real estate, and doing the developing company and also construction
00:27company.
00:28Like many Americans, Chang is getting ready to hit the voting booth to help choose America's
00:32next leader.
00:34Voters will be asked to pick a new president, Republican candidate Donald Trump or Democratic
00:40candidate Kamala Harris.
00:42At stake are several issues, including immigration, women's reproductive rights, and the economy.
00:49For Chang, a Republican, the choice is ideological.
00:53Republican to me is more of a capitalist.
00:57It's more of a you spread wealth around.
01:01And to me, you need to work.
01:03You don't just hang out for money, but Republican, you work, you get, you have a reward.
01:13That sentiment of working hard and creating wealth is shared by other Taiwanese-American
01:18Houstonians like realtor Kenneth Lee.
01:21He also moved to the U.S. at a young age and helped foster the city's thriving Asian-American
01:27community.
01:28Lee has watched generations of Asian immigrants move to the U.S. in search of a better life.
01:35He says immigration policy is what he'll be thinking about when he casts his vote in November
01:41because he sees the value immigrants bring to a country.
01:45Immigrants take jobs away.
01:48We said, no, immigrants actually bring their whole life savings, bring capital, and then
01:56create jobs.
01:57As immigrants, we help the country to grow.
02:02But besides the big national issues, there are others at play as well.
02:07Houston-based attorney David Hsu is the son of Taiwanese immigrants.
02:11His family came when he was a young child, and he now has a family of his own.
02:17Now in his 40s, Hsu says public safety is his primary concern and that he's watching
02:22local elections closely.
02:24In Texas, there's a lot of positions already elected, and one of them are judicial elections.
02:29So judges are elected by the main population.
02:32So it's very important to have judges that you want to elect judges that maybe put a
02:37priority on public safety.
02:39Hsu, who votes Republican, is politically closer to first-generation Taiwanese-Americans
02:45like Jackson Chang.
02:47Younger voters tend not to share their views, something Chang has observed even within his
02:52own family.
02:53My wife says we're all Republicans, but my kids are all Democrats.
03:00Over in the Texas state capital, Austin, young people from the local chapter of the group
03:05Taiwanese American Professionals get together at a local restaurant.
03:09Chapter president Hannah Huang offers a glimpse of what many younger Taiwanese are focused
03:14on for November.
03:15Some of the issues I care about are what the immigration policies are for upcoming candidates,
03:22and then also issues about women's rights, issues around student loan debt.
03:30Some of the attendees are also invested in issues specific to Texas, one of the most
03:35conservative states in the U.S., which has banned abortion in almost all cases.
03:41I guess a big issue for me, especially in Texas, is regarding women's reproductive health
03:48care rights.
03:50It's been a huge, I feel like, hot-button issue with a lot of people.
03:53The range of issues Taiwanese-Americans care about is like the community itself, diverse.
04:00Taiwanese-American voters are varied in age and background.
04:04But come election time, their votes will carry all the same weight in determining America's
04:08future.
04:09Devin Tsai, Jeremy Olivier, and Leslie Liao in Texas for Taiwan Plus.