Why Indian-American support for Trump is slipping before midterms

Immigration restrictions, rising living costs and strains in US-India relations are testing support for President Donald Trump among some Indian-Americans who backed the Republican Party in 2024, analysts say, ahead of November’s midterm elections.

A survey released in August by AAPI Data and Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote found that 66 per cent of Indian-American respondents favoured Democratic candidates for the US House of Representatives, compared with 18 per cent for Republicans. For the Senate, 66 per cent preferred Democrats and 22 per cent Republicans.

The findings follow a reported rise in support for Trump among Indian-American voters between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. A pre-election survey by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in October 2024 found that 32 per cent of registered Indian-American voters intended to vote for Trump that year, up from 22 per cent in 2020.