Majority of Indian Americans to vote for Biden, survey says

[WASHINGTON] More than two-thirds of Indian American voters are expected to vote for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in the US presidential elections in early November, according to a survey.

Only 22 per cent of Indian Americans registered to vote are expected to support President Donald Trump compared with 72 per cent for Mr Biden, the survey by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Wednesday. As many as 55 per cent of the respondents strongly disapprove of Mr Trump's performance as president and about 68 per cent believe things in America are headed in the wrong direction. The study covered 936 Americans of Indian origin polled by analytics firm YouGov between Sept 1 to Sept 20.

The numbers show that the loyalties of Indian American voters haven't shifted to the Republican Party despite Mr Trump's perceived closeness to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government's actions have been criticized by prominent Democrats, including vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

"Indian Americans continue to be strongly attached to the Democratic Party, " said authors Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav in the report.

The survey showed that 45 per cent of the respondents polled said they're more likely to vote Democrat on Nov 3 after Ms Harris, who is of part Indian origin, won her nomination.

While Indian American voters are less than 1 per cent of the US electorate, the total 4.16 million-strong diaspora is seen as one of the most rapidly-growing immigrant groups, having roughly doubled in size in each of the last four decades.

The group also forms an affluent and influential base with a median income for households - roughly double the national average at US$120,000, according to the report. Indian Americans contributed US$3 million to presidential campaigns during the 2020 primary season.

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