Updated: October 15, 2020 7:09:08 am
At the ‘Howdy, Modi’ event in Texas in September 2019 (Source: Narendra Modi Twitter)
Days before the November 3 US election, a poll found that while nearly half of Indian-Americans approve of the performance of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they remain staunchly Democrats despite Modi’s apparent courtship and US President Donald Trump: 68 percent plan to vote for Joe Biden and 22 percent for Trump. However, the poll, conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania, and released Wednesday, found that Indian Americans who vote for the incumbent Trump have a much more favorable view of Modi. (with a score of 76 out of 100) than those who voted for the Democratic candidate Biden (52/100).
The poll comes even as the 41.61 lakh community finds their voting options in the limelight given one, their opinion on politics in India and two, the choice of the Indian-born Kamala Harris Democrats as candidate for vice president. “While Republicans are more optimistic about Modi, it’s worth noting that Democrats still view him largely favorably. The simple notion that Trump supporters are Modi supporters and Modi opponents are Trump opponents finds no support, ”Milan Vaishnav, Principal Investigator and Senior Fellow of the South Asia Program at Carnegie, told The Indian Express.
Indian Americans have traditionally voted for the Democratic Party: Up to 93 percent voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Yet Democrats have gradually lost community votes to Republicans in every election since then.
READ | Will Trump-Modi’s courtship matter in the November US elections?
Almost half of the Indian-Americans (48 percent) surveyed approve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s performance, while 32 percent disapprove.
However, the survey found that “there may be a floor for Modi’s preference; while Trump supporters have a higher opinion of Modi, Trump detractors are divided on their views on the Indian prime minister. ” Those who disapprove of Trump are split on Modi, with roughly 40 percent approving and 40 percent disapproving of him.
“Native Americans have actually become a talking point in this election in a way that few of us could have imagined… The specter of Modi’s coming to power in 2014 undoubtedly created some divisions within the American Indian community. . And one of those divisions is the way that Indian-Americans view the Prime Minister. But to what extent are Indian Americans going to vote based on India? I am very skeptical about this, ”Vaishnav said.
The poll, conducted in September of a representative sample of 1,200 American Indians, said that “contrary to the emerging narrative, American Indians favor the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a margin of more than two to one.” Community support for Biden (68 percent) is greater than that of Hispanic voters (64 percent) and close to that of African American voters (79 percent).
The survey found that while US-Indian relations were the top priority for only three percent of respondents, when asked, half of those surveyed said that a candidate’s position on India will be “very important. “or” something important “for your vote. Support for Trump among Indian-Americans is highest among those who identify as Hindus (22 percent for Trump) and Christian (45 percent), while only 10 percent of Muslim-Americans plan to vote for Trump. Nearly half of Indian Americans (45%) said Harris’s election made them more likely to vote in elections.
Almost half of the Indian-Americans (48 percent) surveyed approve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s performance, while 32 percent disapprove.
There is a fair divide among Indian-Americans on how they view Trump’s handling of relations with India. Less than a quarter “strongly approve” while exactly one quarter “strongly disapprove.”
While two-thirds (67 percent) of Democratic Indian Americans opposed Trump’s “Muslim ban” (the administration had imposed travel restrictions to the United States for citizens of Muslim-majority countries), only a quarter (28 percent) of Republicans do. Interestingly, the only issue that Democratic and Republican Indian Americans converge on is college admissions. About half of both groups oppose affirmative action in higher education.
Two other defining characteristics divide the voting patterns of American Indians: time spent in the US and the region. Of those who have only lived in the United States for 10 years or less, only 28 percent plan to vote for Trump. Similarly, those in the Midwest, a region with the highest number of states on the battlefield that could go either direction in November, plan to vote for Trump at 27 percent, while those in the South plan to vote for Trump. he with 24 percent.
Even among Indian Americans who have registered as Republicans, only 44 percent “strongly approve” of Trump and 27 percent “approve.”
The economy, health care, and racism were the biggest issues for Native Americans.
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