US Election: 6 in 10 Indian Americans back Harris; more young men lean towards Trump, finds survey

US Election: Indian Americans contimue to support the Democratic Party in US Presidential elections 2024, but their attachment to the party has declined compared to the past, a new survey of Indian American political attitudes has found.

The survey said that sixty-one per cent of registered Indian Americans voters plan to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris, while 32 per cent intend to vote for Republican Donald Trump.

At least 47 per cent of respondents in the Indian American Attitude Survey (IAAS) identify as Democrats. This is down from 56 per cent in 2020, when the survey was last conducted. Those identifying as Republicans has remained steady at 21 per cent while those identifying as Independents has increased to 26 per cent, the survey found.

The survey also found that more Indian American men are backing Harris than women.

With 5.2 million people, the Indian Americans are now the second-largest immigrant group in the United States. About 2.6 million members from this politically-significant community are eligible voters in 2024. The significance of the community has increased in US Election 2024 since a candidate of Indian heritage, the Democratic nominee – Kamala Harris is in the fray.

The survey report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is authored by Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav. The survey was conducted online, in partnership with YouGov, by surveying 714 US Citizen Indian American respondents between September 18 and October 15, 2024.

The summary of survey findings is under

1- Indian Americans committed to Democrats

Forty-seven percent of respondents identify as Democrats, down from 56 percent in 2020, the survey finds. The share of Republican identifiers has held steady while the percentage of independents has grown when compared with the responses received by the survey in 2020. 

2-6 in 10 Indian American registered voters intend to vote for Harris

Sixty-one percent of registered Indian American voter respondents plan to vote for Harris while 32 percent intend to vote for Trump, the survey said.

There has been a modest shift in the community’s preferences, with a greater share of respondents willing to vote for Trump since the last election, it says.

3-Trump gaining ground among Indian American men

The survey also indicated a gender gap in the support for both candidates, with Indian American women favouring Harris and Indian American men favouring Trump, more so among younger populations.

Sixty-seven percent 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.

Also, twenty-two percent of women intend to vote for Trump while a significantly larger share of men, 39 percent, plan to cast their ballots for him, the survey found.

“When further disaggregated by age, this gender gap appears starkest with younger voters. In the cohort above the age of 40, more than 70 percent of women and 60 percent of men plan to vote for Harris. However, in the cohort under 40, 60 percent of women say they will vote for Harris, but men say they will vote for Harris and Trump in roughly equal proportions,” reads the survey.

4- Indian Americans lukewarm prominent Indian American Republicans.

The survey said that respondents rate Indian American Republicans such as Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance unfavorably.

However, there is evidence of asymmetric polarisation since Democrats rate prominent Republicans worse than Republicans assess leading Democrats.

5- Abortion a key policy issue

Abortion and reproductive rights are a highly salient issue for Indian Americans this election year, ranking as their second-most-important policy concern after inflation/prices and tied with the economy and jobs. Democrats and women are especially motivated by abortion this election cycle.

6-Republican disadvantage with Indian Americans is rooted in policy.

The survey findings suggest that the Republican Party is out of sync with multiple policy positions held by community members. When Democrats are asked why they do not identify as Republicans, they cite the latter’s intolerance of minorities, its stance on abortion, and ties to Christian evangelicalism above all.