Indian Americans voted against Trump over domestic woes as bilateral ties took backseat

Indian Americans voted against Republicans largely because of anger over policies pursued by the Trump administration rather than concerns about US foreign policy or its approach towards India, said Sumitra Badrinathan, who closely studies voting patterns in the United States.

Speaking to PTI, Badrinathan said that despite the challenging environment created by President Donald Trump's immigration policies, Indian Americans continued to view the US as a better destination for pursuing studies and careers than European countries.

"We've consistently asked Indian Americans whether they care about their politicians' stance towards India, and the answer always seems to be a 'no'," said Badrinathan, assistant professor of political science at American University.

Badrinathan, along with Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and others, released the Indian American Attitudes Survey to understand how the diaspora approaches electoral politics in the US.

In the recently concluded midterm elections, six Indian-American candidates were elected to the US House of Representatives, while more than 30 won seats in state legislatures and other public offices.

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy lost a closely contested race for governor of Ohio, his home state and that of Vice President J D Vance.

Republicans lost control of the US Congress to the Democrats, turning Trump into a lame-duck president in the final two years of his tenure.

Trump acknowledged that his party had lost the elections because of public anger over high inflation caused by the Iran war.

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However, Badrinathan argued that attributing the Republican defeat solely to inflation and high oil prices would be an oversimplification.

"We found that the issues that motivate Indian Americans are actually the same issues that motivate general Americans. They talk about jobs, the economy, cost of living. It's possible that this time, H-1B, discrimination, and those sorts of issues played a slightly larger role," she said.

Anti-India sentiment featured prominently in the election campaign in Texas, the state with the second-largest Indian-American population in the US. Remarks by Republican leader Bo French targeting University of Texas students triggered widespread outrage across party lines.

"It's hard to say if the Bo French tweet alone pushed people to vote a certain way, as opposed to what came with it: changes around actual immigration policies, the rhetoric around it, and changes in the economy making people's lives harder. So, yes, it probably played a part," Badrinathan said.

She said Indian Americans generally held negative views of specific Trump administration policies on immigration, tariffs and H-1B visas.

Badrinathan declined to speculate on the policies Democrats were likely to pursue towards India after securing control of both the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

"It's a new dawn. It's really hard to say whether the majority that the Democrats now hold in the House and Senate as well as multiple state legislatures is going to translate to policy or whether it's going to lead to gridlock," she said.

"It's also hard to say whether the discourse is going to change because establishment Democrats have now seemingly taken a little bit of a backseat to let in some space for newcomers across states," she said, referring to the number of Democratic Socialists of America candidates who won in the midterm elections.

Badrinathan said that despite tough immigration policies and discrimination against Indians, interest in studying in the US remained high.

"But it seems like even despite the perception that there is discrimination and one in two people saying they do experience some form of discrimination, mostly on the basis of skin colour, exit from the US is not happening. People are still encouraged to come to the US to both work and to study," Badrinathan said.