Which party do Karen Americans lean for?

[TDAS04]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Americans

[Radicalneo]

50/50.

[Kamala's side hoe]

Aren't the Karen people mostly in Burma and Thailand?  I assume there aren't enough of them in the American electorate to matter one way or the other.

More than 90% are Christians with Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists being the big groups and they're very devout and the church is the focus point of their communities (even Karen Buddhists go to church at times for that reason), so I guess they normally vote Republican. Generally the Burmese community in the US is very socially and culturally conservative and dominated by refugees from various traditional and devout religious minorities, but a lot of them also think Trump's style and demeanor reminds them of the Burmese generals and the regime they fled, and at least in 2016 that was a factor since Clinton was perceived to care about Burma and be knowledgable about it, not sure if the same applies to Biden. Anecdotally they also don't think Trump is a true Christian, but I only got that from one Karen guy. I could see a lot of ticket splitting with people voting for Biden, but GOP down ballot. Biden is pro-choice, but he's open and serious about his faith, knows about foreign policy/cares about human rights and other countries and Trump's demeanor is just at odds with Karen culture. On the other hand liberal American culture is completely alien to them and the riots could also have pushed some people towards Trump.

This post sums up why many Asian subgroups are up for grabs for both parties.

I suspect most Myanmar-origin Americans are ethnic Bamar (or more likely ethnic Chinese), and that Karen Americans might not identify as “Burmese”. But this is all baseless conjecture and inferences about suggested 2nd degree Facebook connections on my part. I can count the number of Myanmar-origin individuals in the US I’ve personally met on one hand.

From Wiki:

Karen people first arrived to the U.S. in 2002. In 2017 Minnesota was reported to have more than 12,000 Karen, the largest such community in the country.[2] Other places with significant populations are California, Texas, New York, and Indiana.[3]

Total population
215,000[1]

Regions with significant populations
Arizona, California, New York, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Wyoming, Minnesota

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I've actually met and worked with some Karen people, processing immigration paperwork and teaching English. They fit the "socially conservative Democrats who'd be more open to being wooed by the GOP if the party weren't so nativist" archetype to a T.

ETA: Also, they're socially conservative relative to a different society than the "Heartland" mainstream, which does make a difference given how heavily Republican messaging is geared towards that (increasingly perceived rather than actual) mainstream. These are people who eat fish soup for their birthdays rather than cake. They'd respond a lot better to conservative messaging on abortion or drugs or no-fault divorce if it weren't accompanied by quite so much red meat about Mount Rushmore and hamburgers and Santa.

[Kamala's side hoe]

ETA: Also, they're socially conservative relative to a different society than the "Heartland" mainstream, which does make a difference given how heavily Republican messaging is geared towards that (increasingly perceived rather than actual) mainstream. These are people who eat fish soup for their birthdays rather than cake. They'd respond a lot better to conservative messaging on abortion or drugs or no-fault divorce if it weren't accompanied by quite so much red meat about Mount Rushmore and hamburgers and Santa.

"Socially conservative but culturally liberal"

[I’m not Stu]

GOP

[RINO Tom]

GOP

Shocking you'd profess this with no other argument or anecdotes!

[morgieb]

Did anyone else think the OP was talking about the Karen meme?

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Did anyone else think the OP was talking about the Karen meme?

I thought that too. Was gonna say prob democrats.

[Tekken_Guy]

Did anyone else think the OP was talking about the Karen meme?

I thought that too. Was gonna say prob democrats.

Or how about people just named “Karen.” Probably Republicans because they’re middle-aged folks.

[Orwell]

Isn’t Karen that Zoroastrian duchy in CK2?

[Asenath Waite]

Did anyone else think the OP was talking about the Karen meme?

Yes lol

[It’s so Joever]

I've actually met and worked with some Karen people, processing immigration paperwork and teaching English. They fit the "socially conservative Democrats who'd be more open to being wooed by the GOP if the party weren't so nativist" archetype to a T.

ETA: Also, they're socially conservative relative to a different society than the "Heartland" mainstream, which does make a difference given how heavily Republican messaging is geared towards that (increasingly perceived rather than actual) mainstream. These are people who eat fish soup for their birthdays rather than cake. They'd respond a lot better to conservative messaging on abortion or drugs or no-fault divorce if it weren't accompanied by quite so much red meat about Mount Rushmore and hamburgers and Santa.

True chads eat fish soup AND cake on their birthdays.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I've actually met and worked with some Karen people, processing immigration paperwork and teaching English. They fit the "socially conservative Democrats who'd be more open to being wooed by the GOP if the party weren't so nativist" archetype to a T.

ETA: Also, they're socially conservative relative to a different society than the "Heartland" mainstream, which does make a difference given how heavily Republican messaging is geared towards that (increasingly perceived rather than actual) mainstream. These are people who eat fish soup for their birthdays rather than cake. They'd respond a lot better to conservative messaging on abortion or drugs or no-fault divorce if it weren't accompanied by quite so much red meat about Mount Rushmore and hamburgers and Santa.

True chads eat fish soup AND cake on their birthdays.

I mean yeah, indisputably, and a lot of their American-born (or at least American-raised) kids do just that. Those of said kids who are of voting age tend to be even more immovably Democratic (or anti-Republican) than their parents, of course, for somewhat more "mainstream" reasons.

[Kamala's side hoe]

Someone linked this NYC-focused article in one of the Discord servers. Voter outreach tips are probably broadly applicable to Karen Americans, who to my knowledge aren't concentrated in Metro NYC.

Finally, my advice on how to win Chinese Americans and other working-class Asian immigrant communities:

To Republicans: Keep pushing a populist message. Attack Democrats as soft on crime and frame them as a party of educated ivory-tower elite snobs who look down on the common people and live in safe neighborhoods while supporting policies that kill poor people of color. Entice Asian voters by promising to keep the SHSAT. And although many immigrant communities of color would agree with your party on culture war issues like “Latinx”, women’s sports, and drag queen story hours, they care much more about economic issues and safety, so talking about pronouns is not a winning issue.

To Democrats: Make pro-immigrants’-rights a forefront of your platform. Offer expended legal and cultural services for immigrants. Run on your reputation as the traditional party of labor and social safety nets, the party of FDR’s “a chicken for every pot” and LBJ’s Great Society. Attack Republicans by framing them as a bunch of racist white Staten Islanders and rich billionaires. Say that you support many social welfare policies for the poor, and that Republicans want to take away many welfare programs and social services from poor and immigrant people. Do not waste your time with issues like January 6th or abortion.

To the DSA: Listen to your Class Unity caucus. Don’t spend your time on pronoun circles and land acknowledgments. Make it known that you are for the working class and not a social club for downwardly-mobile graduates of elite colleges. Tap into Huey Long style populism.

And to all: don’t take any votes for granted.