New survey shows Indian Americans solidly Democratic but uptick in support for Trump

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A new survey conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in partnership with research and analytics firm YouGov—the 2024 Indian American Attitudes Survey—finds that Indian Americans remain solidly behind the Democratic Party. However, there is an uptick in support for Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump.

The analysis is based on a nationally representative online survey of 714 Indian American citizens that was conducted between September 18 and October 15, 2024. The survey has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent. The authors of the report are Sumitra Badrinathan (American University), Devesh Kapur (Johns Hopkins-SAIS), and Milan Vaishnav (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

The report points to a number of factors that have led to Indian Americans becoming important political actors. This group is now the second largest immigrant group in the United States. Add to that, factors such as its rapid demographic growth, the diaspora’s professional success, and close margins in modern presidential elections, have made the political leanings of this group especially salient in the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. elections, as incumbent vice president Kamala Harris is the first presidential nominee of Indian heritage on the ballot, the authors note.

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Despite their rising political profile, the political attitudes of Indian Americans have not been the subject of extensive empirical analysis, the press release point out.

The report has several key findings:

• Indian Americans remain committed to the Democratic Party, but their attachment has declined. Forty-seven percent of respondents identify as Democrats, down from 56 percent in 2020. The share of Republican identifiers has held steady while the percentage of independents has grown.  

• Six in ten 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. There has been a modest increase in the share of respondents willing to vote for Trump since 2020.
• There is a new, striking gender gap in voting preferences. Sixty-seven percent of Indian American women intend to vote for Harris while 53 percent of men say they plan to vote for Harris. Twenty-two percent of women intend to vote for Trump while 39 percent of men plan to cast their ballots for him. This gender gap appears starkest with younger voters.  

• Indian Americans hold lukewarm views toward prominent Indian American Republicans. Respondents rate Indian American Republicans such as Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Usha Vance unfavorably. However, Democrats rate prominent Republicans worse than Republicans assess leading Democrats. 

• Abortion has emerged as a top-tier policy issue, especially for Democrats and women. Abortion and reproductive rights are a highly salient issue for Indian Americans this election year, ranking as their second-most-important policy concern.  
• The Republican disadvantage with Indian Americans is rooted in policy. The data suggest that the Republican Party is out of sync with multiple policy positions held by members of the community. 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.

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