Running mate challenges: Can Kamala sway NRI voters in the US?

In the most recent US presidential election in 2016, Indian-Americans presented a mostly united front. Around 85% voted for the Democratic Party, according to AAPI Data, which publishes demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Then-candidate Donald Trump, who had targeted Indian Americans with an ad that featured him speaking Hindi, was only able to convince a small number of voters to back the Republicans.

In the 2020 election cycle, both presidential candidates are paying attention to Indian-Americans. They currently make up just over 1% of the US population, but they have become increasingly active as a constituency and donors in recent years. Plus, they’re one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the country. In a statement aimed at Muslim American communities, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has criticised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his poor treatment of the Muslim minority in his country. Trump, on the other hand, has launched an online advertising campaign with pictures of his February visit to India. He has promised to work closely with India and build on the friendship with Modi. Last September, Trump invited Modi to Texas where a political rally under the slogan “Howdy, Modi!” attracted tens of thousands of participants.

But now the Democrats have Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in Chennai, India. “It’s exciting that a woman of color is on a major party ticket for the first time,” said Sangita Gopal, who grew up in Kolkata and came to the US as a PhD student about 30 years ago. Gopal has followed Harris’ career for a long time, ever since her brother, who works as a lawyer in Washington, told her about the rising politician from California.

“She’s an impressive and powerful speaker,” Gopal said, recalling Harris’ questioning of Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing for the US Supreme Court in 2018. A friend, Gopal said, has been so impressed with Harris she is now volunteering for the Biden campaign. Gopal plans to vote for the Democrats in November, but her support has nothing to do with Harris’ politics — for her, Trump is out of the question. The professor of cinema studies, wife and mother of an 11-year-old daughter would have preferred to vote for the progressive candidate Bernie Sanders.

Will the choice of Kamala Harris convince any die-hard Indian-American Trump fans to vote for the Democrats? It’s unlikely, said Rishi Bhutada, one of the founders of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) advocacy group, which count some 3,000 subscribers to its mailing list. Trump supporters, he said, are motivated by economic factors. But the fact that Biden has chosen Harris as his running mate could change who will come out and vote in the first place, Bhutada said. “I do think the biggest effect of Harris being on the ticket is that those who generally don’t vote might be more engaged now,” he said.

The HAF has not yet decided which candidate to support in the upcoming vote; it still wants to hear back from both parties regarding its policy questionnaire. Bhutada wants to know, for example, how the candidates intend to tackle hate crime or how they will support the Indian government in the fight against terrorism. The HAF, which the Texan leads on a voluntary basis with five other fellow campaigners, hasn’t made any donations to Harris campaign. In the past, the advocacy group has supported politicians from both parties, focusing on each candidate’s policies.

Harris is seen as a solid candidate for the Democratic Party — she neither stands for a radically new agenda, nor appears too conservative. But her identity as the child of immigrants from Jamaica and India, and her identity as a black woman, is a rare case in the American political landscape, and unprecedented for a position as powerful as that of vice president.

— This article has been provided by Deutsche Welle