Kamala Harris Is Likely to Bring In Indian American Voters, This Research Finds
Originally published as "Kamala Harris Is Likely to Bring In Indian American Voters,This Research Finds," The Washington Post, August 15, 2020
President Trump has been working to win over a bloc he lost in 2016: Indian American voters. Nearly 70 percent of Indian Americans surveyed by the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey said they voted for Hillary Clinton, compared with just 20 percent who voted for Trump.
Since then, Trump has gone to some lengths to change their sympathies. He fondly embraced India’s prime minister Narendra Modi at the “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston in the fall. He has elevated prominent Indian Americans to public positions, including such appointments as Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador, Ajit Pai as chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and Seema Verma as the administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). —The Trump campaign has even run ads targeted at Indian American voters.