FIS Presents Presents Webinar on Indian Participation in US Elections

HOUSTON: On November 3, before the American Presidential General Elections, Foundation for India Studies (FIS), a non-profit organization serving the Houston community for the past 18 years, presented a timely webinar before the American General elections to discuss how the Indian diaspora in America was likely to vote in the
2024 American General elections.

The title of the presentation was “Indian Americans at the Ballot Box: Results From the 2024 Indian American Attitudes Survey. The presenter was Dr. Milan Vaishnav , Sr. Fellow and Director of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, a nonpartisan International affairs think tank headquartered in Washington,
D.C. His co- researchers were Sumitra Badrinathan and Devesh Kapur. Dr. Vaishnav was the presenter of
his team’s findings.

Key takeaways from the Presentation

Indian Americans remain committed to the Democratic Party, but their attachment has declined. Six in ten Indian American registered voters intend to vote for the Democratic party candidate, Kamala Harris, a decline from 2020.

There is a new, striking gender gap in voting preferences.

• Indian Americans hold lukewarm views toward prominent Indian American Republicans
• Abortion has emerged as a top-tier policy issue, especially for Democrats and women.
• The Republican disadvantage with Indian Americans is rooted in policy Implications:
• Need to rethink our assumptions about voting behavior of visible minorities/immigrant communities
• Harris’ self-identification as both Black and Indian led to assumptions of greater support from these communities compared to Biden in 2020. The study found the opposite.
• As with the overall U.S. population, they expected younger Indian-American voters to be more pro-Harris compared with their older counterparts. But the study found the opposite.
• Given India’s patriarchal society, they expected naturalized male citizens to be more pro-Trump than U.S.-
  born males. The study found the opposite

Implications
The general impression is that White voters are most concerned about illegal Immigration. But so are immigrants—whether Indian Americans or Hispanics. While the focus on polarization has been on racial/religious divides, the emergence of a gender divide was not foreseen. Whether this divide is here to stay and acts as a cross-cutting cleavage remains to be seen.

In Summary
One should be very careful of simple narratives of what drives voting behavior. We know much less than we think we do. Dr. Vaishnav and his team’s findings were quite insightful and
revealing.

The hour-long presentation opened with a brief welcome speech by FIS Chairman, Krishna Vavilala and ended with a lively Q& A session, ably moderated by Mr. Arun Venugopal, a Senior Reporter of WNYC radio station in New York City. The webinar was coordinated by the event Chair, Hiren Sarma which concluded with Vote of Thanks given by Mr. Sudhakar Tallavajhula, both FIS Board Members. Technical support was provided by Aashta Sharma and Chandra Vavilala.

Up next: How do Indian Americans assess the state of U.S.-India relations and India’s domestic trajectory? How do Indian Americans perceive their own identity and social realities?