Indian Americans continue to support the Democratic Party ahead of the United States presidential election, with 61% of the voters from the community saying that they plan to cast ballots in favour of Kamala Harris, showed a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Monday.

Harris, the vice president of the United States, became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in July after President Joe Biden ended his campaign.

The polling in the presidential election will take place on November 5. The counting of votes is scheduled to begin shortly after the voting concludes.

The report, titled Indian Americans at the Ballot Box, is based on the 2024 Indian American Attitudes Survey conducted by the Washington-based think tank along with research and analytics firm YouGov.

The survey found that although there has been a slight decline in the support for the Democratic Party among Indian Americans – from 56% in 2020 to 47% now – the share of those who identified as Republicans had not gone up.

A total of 32% of the respondents said that they intend to vote for Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. “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 elections,” said the report.

Trump was the United States president between 2017 and 2021.

The analysis is based on an online survey of 714 Indian American citizens conducted by Carnegie and YouGov between September 18 and October 15.

According to the report, there are more than 5.2 million persons of Indian origin residing in the US. Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the country.

Split on gender lines

The Indian American community’s voting preference is split on gender lines.

Sixty-seven percent of the women intend to vote for Harris, according to the report. That number falls to 53% among men.

On the other hand, while 22% of the women intend to vote for Trump, that number rises to 39% among men.

This gap appeared to be starker among younger voters, the report said.

Among those above the age of 40, more than 70% of the women and 60% of men said that they plan to vote for Harris. But in the cohort under the age of 40, the number fell to 60% among women.

Men in the under 40 age group said that they will vote for Harris and Trump in about equal proportions, the report added.

Abortion and reproductive rights have emerged as a key policy issue for Indian Americans, especially among women and Democrats, according to the report. It was their second-most important policy concern after price rise, and is tied with concerns about the economy and jobs.

Also read: US: Democrats are putting women’s rights front and centre of the campaign – and it could be decisive

Indian Americans and Republicans

The lower favourability of Republican among Indian Americans was rooted in the party’s policy positions. When Democrats from the community were asked why they do not identify as Republicans, they cited the Grand Old Party’s stance on abortion, and what they viewed as intolerance of minorities and ties to evangelicalism, the report said.

The community also holds tepid view of prominent Indian American Republicans. The respondents rated Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Usha Vance unfavourably, the think tank found.

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, dropped out of the Republican Party’s presidential race in March. Ramaswamy, a millionaire former biotech executive, also suspended his presidential election campaign in January and has since backed Trump. Usha Chilukuri Vance, a lawyer and daughter of Indian immigrants, is the wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

The report also said that voters from the Indian American community who identified themselves as Democrats, rated the prominent Republicans worse than Republicans assessed the leading Democrats.

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