Former Indian Ambassador to the US Arun Kumar Singh shared his views on the 2024 US presidential election. “Each election is unique, but parallels exist across the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, as Trump has defined the issues highlighting America’s decline.”
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, India’s envoy said, “Each election, of course, is unique, but I would say to some extent, there is similarity in the kind of campaign we had in 2016 and 2020, when earlier too there were President Trump was a candidate because he defined the issues a certain way, tried to highlight things like America was not doing well, other countries exported America, Americans were being exported by immigrants “
He said, “So he was portraying all the negative dimensions of what was happening in America, trying to show that he was not part of the establishment, even though he is a very successful businessman himself, and so People should vote for him.”
Additionally, Singh highlighted the historic candidacy of Kamala Harris as the first African American and Indian American woman to run for president. However, pre-election surveys revealed unexpected trends, with groups expected to support him not doing so.
“According to pre-election surveys, most African American men were not supporting him. Most Latino men were not supporting him. And if you look at the Indian American votes, also, according to pre-election surveys, 80% Voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and almost 70% voted for Joe Biden in 2020. But this year, only 60% of Indian Americans were expected to vote for him, even though he is partly of the same ethnic origin. ” He said.
“So these were some of the trends that were going to happen, were unexpected, but they were there. And I think it was a reflection of the fact that for people who voted, the issues that were prominent included issues related to the economy , inflation, jobs, where there was a feeling that they are not doing well,” he said.
Singh said several pre-poll services suggested that a large number of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, which would negatively impact the Biden-Harris administration and Kamala Harris’ candidacy.
“And then, a number of pre-poll services suggested that a large number of Americans feel that the country is not going in the right direction. And so, if they feel that way, obviously they will take it, with the current administration. The Biden-Harris administration and then Kamala Harris naturally had to suffer the consequences,” the envoy said.
Singh’s comments come at a time when the US elections have reached its peak, where Harris is facing a tough competition against Donald Trump.
The election results remain uncertain, with several battleground states still up in the air, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
Voters in the US are going to vote in one of their most important elections, which will not only decide the direction of America but will also impact global geopolitics for the next four years.
Voting hours will vary across states, but in most places voting will take place between 6am and 8pm on Tuesday (local time). Although exit polls will start coming after the voting starts, the final results will come only after the counting stops in all the states.
The first polls in six states, including Georgia, will close at around 7 pm ET (5:30 pm IST). Final voting will close at 12am ET (10:30am IST) in the blue state of Hawaii and the red state of Alaska.
Total votes will close by 1 pm ET (11:30 am IST), after which counting will begin. In smaller states the results can be predicted immediately after the election; Predicting the winner in some key battleground states could take hours.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
