Skip to main content

48% Indians in US support Modi, but 22% to vote 'American Modi' Trump: Survey

By Rajiv Shah
A US think-tank study has said that even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi still enjoys considerable support among Indian diaspora in the country – 48% of Indian Americans approve of Modi’s performance, 32 percent disapprove, while 20% have “no opinion” – the man often dubbed as American Modi, Donald Trump, is unlikely to get more than 22% of their votes in the November 3 US polls, with his rival, Joseph Biden, likely to get 72% of the votes.
Carried out by Sumitra Badrinathan, an advanced PhD student in political science at the University of Pennsylvania; Devesh Kapur, Professor of South Asian Studies and director of Asia Programs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; and Milan Vaishnav, Director, South Asian Programme, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the study says, ironically, “Those who disapprove of Trump are roughly equally split on Modi: 41 percent of those who disapprove of Trump approve of Modi, while 38 percent disapprove of him.”
Insisting that “recent anecdotal narratives notwithstanding, there is scant evidence that Democratic voters are defecting toward Trump and the Republican Party”, the study says, “Indian Americans do not consider US-India relations to be one of the principal determinants of their vote choice in this election”, adding, “Economy and healthcare are the two most important issues influencing” their “vote choice.”
According to the study, “Even though Indian Americans comprise slightly more than 1% of the total US population – and less than 1% of all registered voters – both major parties are leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to this community.” Thus, if “Biden’s campaign issued a manifesto specifically aimed at Indian American voters”, as Trump’s campaigners “recently shared an online advertisement wooing Indians in America with images of Trump and Modi sharing the stage at a massive rally in Houston in September 2019.”
The study believes, the Democratic choice of Kamala Harris as vice presidential candidacy has especially “galvanized a large section of the Indian American community”, pointing out, 45% of respondents indicated that Harris’s selection made them more likely to vote for Democrats, while just 10 percent indicated that it made them less likely to vote. About 40%, however, said it made “no difference either way.”
The study states, “A large section of Indian Americans view the Republican Party as unwelcoming. Indian Americans refrain from identifying with the Republican Party due, in part, to a perception that the party is intolerant of minorities and overly influenced by Christian evangelicalism. Those who identify as Republicans are primarily moved to do so because of economic policy differences with the Democrats – with particularly marked differences regarding healthcare.”

Further, 71% of respondents “either strongly or somewhat oppose” White House measures to retaliate against critical journalists. Two-thirds (67%) “oppose” efforts by law enforcement to use force against peaceful #BlackLifeMatters protesters. About 60% oppose Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban”, while 57% disapprove of “stringent action” to deport illegal immigrants.
The study is based on what it calls “a nationally representative online survey of 936 Indian American citizens conducted between September 1 and September 20, 2020, in partnership with YouGov”, claiming, it has “an overall margin of error of +/- 3.2%.” In 2018, the size of the Indian American population stood at 4.16 million, out of which 2.62 million were US citizens. The total eligible voter population is 1.9 million, or about 0.82 percent of all eligible voters in the country.
The study says, “When asked how they self-identify, 56 percent of Indian Americans report that they consider themselves Democrats, 15 percent consider themselves to be Republicans, while another 22 percent identify as independents”, adding, among those who consider themselves Democrats, 76% “identify as strong Democrats, 19% identify as not very strong Democrats, and another 10% lean toward the Democratic Party.”
On the other side, as for the Republican supporters, the study says, “Just 7% of respondents identify as strong Republicans while another 8% are not very strong Republicans and only 3% lean Republican”, adding, “All told, two-thirds of respondents (66%) tend toward the Democratic Party while 18% tend toward the Republican Party.” Around 13% of respondents “are independents who do not lean toward either party, while 4% percent are not sure of where they stand.”
As for American Indians’ ideological frame of mind, the study says, “While 29% of Indian American citizens classify themselves as moderate, a larger share of the remaining respondents place themselves on the ideological left: 11% identify as extremely liberal, 23% identify as liberal, and 13% identify as slightly liberal.” On the other hand, “The proportion of respondents situated on the right end of the ideological spectrum is much smaller: 4% identify as extremely conservative, 13% identify as conservative, and an additional 6% identify as slightly conservative.”
Interestingly, the younger generation American Indians prefer Biden over Trump. The study says, “75% of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 intend to vote for Biden; this proportion declines to 64% for ages 30 to 49, before rising again to 69% for those above the age of 50.”
Then,, says the study, while Indians of all religious faiths prefer Biden to Trump, there is an important caveats. “Muslim support for Biden (82%) is considerably higher than Hindu support (67%), which in turn is considerably higher than Christian support (49%). The latter community is also the most supportive of Trump (45 percent). Then “69% of women and 68% of men intend to vote for Biden, while just 19% of women and 24% of men plan to vote for Trump.”
---
This story has also been published in National Herald

Comments

A Mumbaikar and an Indian said…
A year ago I might have been surprised at this but not now. The way Trump has been talking about "foreigners", which includes Indian residents/citizens, they must have realised that he is not a reliable friend of India or of anyone except Donald Trump.
October 29, 2020
Post a Comment

TRENDING

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Kolkata dialogue flags policy and finance deficit in wetland sustainability

By A Representative   Wetlands were the focus of India–Germany climate talks in Kolkata, where experts from government, business, and civil society stressed both their ecological importance and the urgent need for stronger conservation frameworks. 
Post a Comment
»

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...
Post a Comment
»

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan*  An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...
2 comments
»

Maoist activity in India: Weakening structures, 'shifts' in leadership, strategy and ideology

By Harsh Thakor*  Recent statements by government representatives have suggested that Maoism in India has been effectively eliminated, citing the weakening of central leadership and intensified security operations. These claims follow sustained counterinsurgency efforts across key regions, including central and eastern India. However, available information from security agencies and independent observers indicates that while the organizational structure of the CPI (Maoist) has been significantly disrupted, elements of the movement remain active. Reports acknowledge the continued presence of cadres in certain forested regions such as Bastar and parts of Dandakaranya, alongside smaller, decentralized units adapting their operational strategies.
Post a Comment
»

46% own nothing, 1% own 18%: The truth about India’s land inequality

By Vikas Meshram *  “Agriculture is the backbone of India” — this is what we have been hearing for generations. But there is a pain hollowing out this backbone from within: the unequal distribution of land. On one hand, news of farmer suicides, indebtedness, and rural migration keeps coming; on the other, agricultural land across the country continues to concentrate in the hands of a few wealthy individuals.
Post a Comment
»

From Manesar to Noida: Workers take to streets for bread, media looks away

By Sunil Kumar*   Across several states in India, a workers’ movement is gathering momentum. This is not a movement born of luxury or ambition, nor a demand for power-sharing within the state. At its core lies a stark and basic plea: the right to survive with dignity—adequate food, and wages sufficient to afford it.
1 comment
»

US study links ultra-processed diets to preterm birth, sparks concern in India

By Jag Jivan   A growing body of scientific evidence linking ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption during pregnancy to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes has sparked fresh concern among public health experts, with Indian nutrition advocates warning of serious implications for the country’s already strained maternal health landscape.
Post a Comment
»

Midnight weeping: The sociology of tragic vision in Badri Narayan’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan*  Badri Narayan, a distinguished Hindi poet and social scientist, occupies a unique position in contemporary Indian intellectual life by bridging the worlds of creative literature and critical social inquiry. His poetic journey began significantly with the 1993 collection 'Saca Sune Hue Kaï Dina Hue' (Truth Heard Many Days Ago). As a social historian and cultural anthropologist, Narayan pioneered a methodological shift away from elite archives toward the oral traditions and folk myths of marginalized communities. He eventually legitimized "folk-ethnography" as a rigorous academic discipline during his tenure as Director of the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute.  
Post a Comment
»