Washington: Two out of three Indian-Americans currently favour Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, although there has been a significant uptick in their support for incumbent Donald Trump, according to a survey released by Indiaspora, a nonpartisan community organisation, and AAPI Data, which records demographics and policy developments relating to Asian American and Pacific Islanders. The organisations said in a joint report that 66% of Indian-Americans currently favour Biden and 28% favour Trump (up from 16% in 2016), with both Democratic and Republican parties reaching out to this increasingly influential voting bloc in the 2020 US election.
The report also said Indian-Americans are positioned to make a difference in several swing states such as Florida (with 87,000 Indian-American voters), Pennsylvania (61,000), Georgia (57,000), Michigan (45,000), and North Carolina (36,000), and perhaps even Texas, which has 1,60,000 Indian-American voters. “Given Senator Kamala Harris’s historic vice-presidential nomination, as well as highly publicised rallies that President Trump and PM Modi held together, high turnout could make a huge difference,” said AAPI Data founder Karthick Ramakrishnan.
The survey showed increasing political awareness and activism on part of Indian-Americans, who now number nearly 4.5 million in the US, and who, with 1.8 million eligible voters, constitute one of the fastest growing politically engaged minority groups, with significant numbers in “battleground” states. Scores of Indian-Americans are running for office across the country down to the county and school board level, with Congressional candidates such as Shri Preston Kulkarni and Hiral Tipirneni in Arizona trying to make it to the “Samosa Caucus” as the five Indian-American lawmakers in Washington DC are called. A quarter of those surveyed had donated to a candidate, party or campaign this year. By Juneend, Indian-Americans had donated at least $3 million.
Compared to 2016, when 46%of Indian American voters identified as Democrat, 35% were Independent or other, and 19% identified as Republican, the latest survey showed 54% of them identified as Democrats, 16% as Republicans, and 24% as Independents. Issues at the top of the list that Indian American voters thought were important included: education (94%), jobs and economy (92%), health (92%) and environment (88%).
