A week from now, America will know who will be their next President. The contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has been extremely bitter, dividing and polarizing much of America. One group that has emerged as important is that of Indian-Americans.
The more than 5.2 million-strong Indian-American community eligible to vote has emerged as a group that can potentially swing the election outcome towards any candidate.
Now the second largest immigrant group in the United States, the Indian-American community has historically overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party. However, the Republican Party has long realized that community votes are important and hence the party has changed its policies on the economy, social issues and management of US-India bilateral relations.
There has been a greater focus on the Indian-American community in this election as there is a possibility that for the first time in American history, a candidate of Indian heritage – Democratic candidate Kamala Harris – may hold the country’s highest office.
Since people of Indian heritage play a significant electoral role in deciding who will be the next US President and how it will shape the future of America, an extensive survey was conducted by the Carnegie Group to understand how Indian-Americans will vote .
survey, findings
The survey, conducted in partnership with research and analytics firm YouGov, has found that as the elections approach on November 5, Indian-Americans remain strongly behind the Democratic Party, although in support of Republican candidate Donald Trump. is also increasing.
The survey shows that from Kamala Harris’s point of view, six out of every ten Indian-Americans are in favor of the Democrats, while from Donald Trump’s point of view, one out of every three people of Indian heritage is likely to vote for him.
The survey also shows that gender factor is also very important in this. It shows, “Sixty percent of Indian American women intend to vote for Harris, while 53 percent of men, significantly less, say they plan to vote for Harris.” Vote for Trump while a sizable majority of men, 39 percent, plan to vote for him.”
The survey should also be of concern to Democrats as it shows that “forty-seven percent of respondents identify as Democrats, down from 56 percent in 2020.” Over the same period, the share of Republican supporters has remained stable while the percentage of independents has increased.
This also shows that the Indian heritage factor does not always work for every candidate. The survey participants showed that Indian-American Republicans such as Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Usha Vance (wife of Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance) were given unfavorable ratings by Indian-Americans.
According to the research, the issue rated highest among Indian-Americans was ‘inflation’ and ‘cost of living’, closely followed by ‘state of the economy’ and ‘jobs’, followed by ‘abortion and fertility’ The number ‘Adhikar’ came next.
Survey Insights
The survey focuses on several interesting data sets and reveals the following:
- Today there are approximately 5.2 million people of Indian origin living in the United States, of whom 3.9 million are eighteen years of age or older. According to available data, it is estimated that there are approximately 2.6 million eligible Indian-American voters today.
- Between 2010 and 2020, the Indian-American community grew by 50 percent, making it the second-largest immigrant community by country of origin, behind only Mexican-Americans.
- The median household income of Indian Americans is approximately $153,000, more than double the figure for the country as a whole.
Here are some graphs that show the survey’s findings:
The survey analysis shows that although the Republican Party has made significant progress, the views of the Indian-American community still clearly resonate with the Democratic Party. With the Democrat presidential nominee being of Indian heritage, the party looks comfortably ahead through 2024. However, given the rate at which Republicans have increased their efforts to capture the Indian-American vote, 2028 could be a challenging election for the Democrats. ,