Ethnic news and its effects on presidential approval among Chinese Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic

Ethnic media play important roles in constructing or reconstructing ethnic identity, facilitating the acculturation process, and encouraging political participation among ethnic groups. The current study investigated the moderation effects of ethnic news use on the relationships between political ideology and presidential approval among Chinese Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic when the virus was called the ‘Chinese virus' by some news media and the former U.S. President Donald Trump. Relying on a survey of Chinese Americans conducted between October and December 2020, the study showed that while conservative Chinese Americans were more likely than liberals to approve of the former president Trump, the effects of political ideology on the presidential evaluations were diminishing for people who used ethnic media more frequently to get news.