NEW DELHI: US Nearly three-quarters of Indian-Americans plan to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe biden in next month’s U.S. election, believing the country is going in the wrong direction under the presidency Donald trumpaccording to a poll Wednesday.
Indian Americans, the second largest immigrant group in the United States, account for less than 1% of registered voters for the November 3 election. But both parties have reached out to the community in case they become important in the event of a close vote.
The Indian community is also in the spotlight after Biden elected senator Kamala harris, daughter of an Indian immigrant, like her running mate. Harris is the first black and Asian American woman in history to run for president for a major party.
The poll found that 72% of registered American Indian voters supported Biden for president compared to 22% for Trump. The rest chose “others” or said they did not intend to vote.
The survey, a collaboration between the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and the University of Pennsylvania, covered 936 Indian americans.
It was conducted between September 1 and 20 in association with YouGov with an overall margin of error of +/- 3.2%.
The Indian community has traditionally supported the Democratic Party, but the strong personal ties between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raised expectations for change.
In an effort to win the support of Indian-American voters, Trump organized a 50,000-person “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas with Modi last year. Modi returned the favor in February, staging a 110,000-strong pro-Trump rally in India.
It has been speculated that the Indian community in the US may not be in favor of a possible Biden presidency, fearing that it may be tougher on India on issues such as human rights and civil liberties than activists say , are increasingly at risk under Modi.
Still, the poll showed little erosion in support of Biden.
“The big takeaway from these numbers is that there is little evidence in the poll of the widespread defection of Democratic voters to Trump,” said Milan Vaishnav of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Devesh Kapur of Johns Hopkins and Sumitra Badrinathan in their assessment.
Voters who were polled cited the economy and health care as their top two concerns in the run-up to the vote. Ties between the United States and India were near the bottom of the list.
Harris’s run for the vice presidency has prompted Indian Americans to vote, especially Democrats.
About 49% of those surveyed indicated that Harris’s nomination made them more excited about Biden’s candidacy, while only 15% said it made them less enthusiastic.
Harris is born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who immigrated to the United States in their youth to study.
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