With a population of approximately 5.2 million, Indian Americans can play a key role in the US presidential election which will be held on November 5. India-Americans remain the second largest immigrant community in the United States, behind only Mexican-Americans.
The 2024 US election has brought unprecedented attention to the Indian-American community, as for the first time in American history, a candidate of Indian heritage—Democratic nominee Kamala Harris—has a chance to become president.
How Indian-Americans have voted in the past
According to the Indian American Attitudes Survey (IAAS) 2024, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Indian-American support for Democrats has been traditionally based on the perception that Republicans are intolerant towards minorities.
A report by the CNBC-TV18 said that the first glimpses of the community’s growing political stature emerged in 2004. Bobby Jindal became the second Indian after Dalip Singh Saund (1955) to enter the US Congress and both parties also wooed the cash-rich Indian-American community.
Indian-Americans are less than 2% of America’s population, but their median annual household income of approximately $153,000 (about Rs 1.3 crore) is more than double that of the country as a whole, according to Indian Express.
Indian-Americans also supported Democrat nominee, John Kerry, in 2004. However, George W Bush became famous as the “most pro-India president in US history”. The community reportedly played a key role in states such as Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where the victory margins were less than a sixth of all the votes.
Again in 2008, the Indian-Americans voted for Democrat Barack Obama and the US got its first African American president. According to a survey of Asian-Americans, a whopping 84% of the Indian American community voted for Obama in 2008, second only to African-Americans.
Once again 2012, the Indian Americans supported Obama. The survey revealed that 60% of Indian-Americans preferred Obama while only 20% voted for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
However, things took a turn in 2016. Donald Trump became the US President signalling a swing in favour of the Republicans among Indian-Americans. Tax cuts promised by Trump is said to have wooed the community. Also, many people of Indian origin identified the political narrative that blamed Islamic terrorism for various issues across the globe.
In 2020, President Trump’s appearance at the “Howdy Modi” event, where PM Narendra Modi cheered for Trump 2.0, helped the Republican Party woo voters from the community.
Nearly 28% of Indian-Americans voted for Trump in the 2020 election, according to the 2020 Asian American Voter Survey.
What are the predictions for 2024?
An extensive survey conducted by the Carnegie group showed that Indian-Americans remain solidly behind the Democratic Party, though there is an uptick in support for Trump as well.
"Sixty-seven per cent of Indian American women intend to vote for Harris while 53 percent of men, a significantly smaller share, say they plan to vote for Harris. Twenty-two per cent of women intend to vote for Trump while a significantly larger share of men, 39 percent, plan to cast their ballots for him,” it said.
According to the survey, 47 per cent of respondents identify as Democrats, down from 56 per cent in 2020.
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