Look, tonight, I want to talk about the 2020 election.

Now, I know it's a year away,

but candidates are starting to reach out to key minority groups

because they know we matter.

It's pander season, baby. You've seen it.

Hillary dabbing,

Trump with the taco salad,

Ted Cruz making matzah.

Like, come on, what's next? Pete Buttigieg drinking from a paper bag

with Desus and Mero?

Oh, wait, that actually happened.

And, Asians, guess what?

Our pander time is coming sooner than you think.

Asian Americans have historically been very minor players

in the political process, but that's changing.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing population group

in the country, with the number of eligible voters increasing

by about 150,000 each year.

Voters of color and particularly the new Asian American voters,

flip those legislatures, so we know that it's possible.

We've seen it happen in other states, but we most recently saw it in Virginia.

She's actually underselling what happened in Virginia.

In 2000, the state voted Republican for almost every major public office,

but over two decades, Virginia's Asian population exploded

by 125%, and now...

it's entirely blue. Think about that.

The capital of the Confederacy

is now the capital of hot pot and bánh mì.

Asians also helped flip congressional seats

in the House takeover last year.

In Orange County, home to these three districts,

the Asian and Pacific Islander population

grew 27% in the last decade.

In 2018, all of these districts flipped.

This population growth is a huge opportunity for Democrats,

especially in 2020 battleground states like Nevada and Arizona.

There's just one problem, though.

Did you know that only 49%

of Asian Americans

who were eligible to vote,

voted in the last election?

That's really disappointing.

That's insane.

Asian American millennials

are the poorest performers of all.

This is the only area where we're under achieving.

All right, I get it. We suck at voting.

You could've just hired George Takei to flip us off for 30 seconds.

It's the same commercial.

Asians almost always have the lowest voter turnout

of any racial group, and I get why.

My uncle always says, “Hasan, look,

you can either make money or make a difference. You can't do both.”

You know how it is for us, right? But there's another reason

why we don't seem to care about politics.

Many of our voters that when we call them, they're like,

“You're the first person who's ever called in language,

in my native language. No one else is outreaching to us.”

They say, “Nobody's ever called me before.

Nobody's ever talked to me about voting before.”

-You don't get phone calls? -No.

-You don't get mailings? -No.

-Nobody comes knocking on your door? -No.

We gotta keep this going.

Is anyone texting you?

No.

Did you finish Game of Thrones?

No.

And your favorite type of Japanese theater?

No.

Now, I'm assuming your favorite James Bond film is Dr...

-No. -Okay.

Is this bit getting old yet?

No.

I gotta disagree. Now, look, a lot of us don't feel spoken to,

but we can't be ignored as a political force.

That's why tonight, I want to focus on Asian American voters

because despite our growing numbers,

politicians in the media ignore us, even when we're running for president.

Andrew Yang has a tremendous center of gravity.

He's getting ignored for some weird reason.

Andrew Yang,

I don't know much about his platform.

Andrew Yang, who, you know,

suffered underneath a media blackout for months.

In the last debates, he ultimately received

less than seven minutes of airtime.

I didn't even know he was running.

I saw him next to Joe Biden on TV, and I thought it was Gran Torino.

For real, Andrew Yang is one of the first Asian Americans

to make a real run for president.

But even though he's polling higher than other candidates,

Yang gets the least amount of speaking time at the debates,

and he is constantly left off of graphics that he should be on.

I mean, something here is clearly off.

MSNBC has left Yang off graphics at least a dozen times.

How has NBC allowed him to go this under-reported?

He's a presidential candidate, not internal sexual misconduct.

So, if you don't know a ton about Yang's platform,

here's a quick taste.

The 44-year-old entrepreneur

who made millions running a test prep company

had zero political experience, but his campaign took off

with his proposal to give every American adult

$12,000 a year.

His supporters are known as the “Yang Gang.”

♪ Yang Gang, yeah ♪

I love the idea of a rapper bragging about making $1,000 a month.

He's like, “Who needs a Maybach? I'm making $33 a day.”

I'll be real.

I'm conflicted about Yang.

On one hand, he's the Asian guy running for president. Amazing.

But on the other hand, sometimes he goes a little too Asian.

Now, I am Asian, so I know a lot of doctors.

The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.

I'm gonna be the first president to use PowerPoint

at the State of the Union.

Fuck that! I'm the PowerPoint guy.

Dude, look, I don't get why he doubles down.

He has a hat that says “MATH” on it.

And then, he has a pin that also says “MATH” on it.

And I know that because he wore it when I interviewed him for this episode.

I remember growing up as a kid

calling out to my brother and my mom anytime I saw an Asian of any kind on TV.

I used to watch those kung fu movies on Saturday afternoons avidly.

I still freaking love those things.

Growing up as an Asian American,

how did politicians and presidential candidates speak to Asian Americans?

I have to be honest.

I don't recall them ever actually saying anything specifically.

Like, did you ever have a moment where you felt spoken to

as a member of the Asian American community?

Where you're like, “Wow, that's my guy.”

I think I grew up like a lot of other Asian American kids

of our generation,

where my parents certainly didn't emphasize American politics that much,

and they didn't present it as something

that my brother and I should necessarily be trying to get into ourselves.

Why do you think many Asian Americans have found politics

to not be relevant to their lives?

I think for most children of immigrants,

our mission is to do well in school and get good grades

and then get a good job and make some money.

And politics doesn't necessarily fit into that vision.

What's the biggest issue for Asian American voters

-in this upcoming election? -I'm a college student.

So, I'm just thinking about paying off my student loans.

-Kind of worry about the economy. -Immigration.

To help us for the small business.

What's most important to you as an Asian American voter in 2020?

Representation, really.

We see Crazy Rich Asians last year.

It's gonna be great. I think representation's great.

-So more props to you, man. -Are you going to be voting for him?

Well, we'll see where we're going, yeah.

I want to know all the candidates first, all right?

Do you think a $1,000 a month in every American's hands

would grow the economy?

I'm actually very iffy on that one.

I'm not sure about universal income at the moment.

-I appreciate this level of honesty. -Me too, man.

-I'ma put it out there. I'ma put it out there. -Yeah! He's keeping it real.

I feel like you have had that uphill battle.

Your mic getting cut off, them getting your name wrong

-a lot of times. -What's up with that?

John Yang living his best life,

crowd surfing-- Andrew Yang, excuse me.

Crowd surfing on the campaign trail.

Can you imagine if they just screwed up another candidate's name?

Like, would they ever say “Frank Biden” or “Sandra Warren?”

And I was like, “You know, that never would happen.”

-Do you know who he is? -No.

That's fine. But you know who this is?

-Yeah, I know who that is. -Would you be interested

in the nation's first Asian American president?

Shit. Hell yeah. I'm Asian, right?

So, you would vote for that person for sure, like, no doubt?

Yes.

Well, you're looking at him. It's this guy!

-Yeah. -You're kidding.

He's been doing literally every interview and press outlet he possibly could.

-Yang Gang. He's in the Yang Gang! -How are you?

Not a plant! Not a plant!

-Yang Gang 2020. -Yang Gang.

-Look at that. -Yang Gang, right?

Yang Gang!

As an Asian American voter, have you felt spoken to?

Not particularly, I guess.

Mainly because I have certain concerns about certain policies that he has.

-That Andrew Yang has? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I had an issue when you were like, “Oh, I'm Asian. I know a lot of doctors.”

I feel like you're perpetuating a lot of stereotypes

that I just don't feel comfortable you saying that.

What's happening is pretty Asian.

You're saying you're disappointed in him.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'll tell you what, if Yang wins,

those two are definitely not getting their thousand bucks.

But I understand their frustration

with the model minority stereotype.

It's the idea that all Asians are hardworking, successful, shy,

straight-A students and the problem is...

we're not all shy and smart.

Some of us are dumb.

There are dumb Asians.

Let's be real. We all have a cousin or an uncle

or Dinesh D'Souza. We all have that.

Now, the real problem with model minority status

is that it pits us against other minority groups.

And it erases our diversity.

First off, when people think of Asian Americans,

they tend to think of people from India,

China, Japan, Korea, or the Philippines,

you know, the ones with the section at the grocery store.

But that's just a fraction.

We actually polled our audience before the show

to see how many ethnic groups you guys can name.

Okay, and you guys did...

pretty good.

On average, you got nine, which isn't bad

if the real answer wasn't over 19 different Asian ethnicities.

Three of you just wrote in “Mandalorian.”

He wears a helmet the whole time.

There are other huge disparities between groups.

Whether it's income or education, Asian Americans aren't a monolith.

Now one politician who's been good about recognizing this is Cory Booker.

He's a case study on how to reach out to the community.

In his home state of New Jersey, 10% of the population is Asian American.

So, to talk strategy, I met up with him in Edison, New Jersey –

a town that is now 49% Asian American.

Here, you have this incredible community in New Jersey

that is touching every aspect of our culture,

except for often politics.

I think if you want to represent a state like this or any state frankly,

you should have a very proactive outreach to that community.

Yeah, man. I'm happy to be here in New Jersey, your state.

I'm proud you crossed the Hudson River.

Oh, of course. So, in New Jersey,

75% of eligible white voters are registered to vote.

Whereas only 55% of eligible Asian American voters are registered to vote.

It kind of feels like a chicken and the egg situation