Poll: a quarter of South Asian Americans who backed Trump in 2024 plan to vote Democratic

Centre · 2A survey of 800 South Asian American registered voters found that 25% of those who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 plan to support Democratic candidates in the 3 November midterm elections. 1 2 Centre · 2The survey found that 67% of South Asian Americans who voted for Trump still back Republicans, while 96% of those who voted for Kamala Harris plan to vote Democratic. 2 1 Centre · 1Hindustan Times, citing the poll by HIT Strategies, also reported that 60% of South Asians overall plan to support the Democratic Party. 3

Centre · 2The survey was commissioned by the advocacy group Indian American Impact and conducted by HIT Strategies; Indian Americans made up 87% of respondents in two reports and roughly 90% in another, with the rest from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali and other communities. 3 2 Centre · 1Respondents named cost of living (65%), healthcare (53%), jobs and wages (33%) and education (28%) as key issues. 1 Centre · 2About 90% said they had experienced discrimination or knew someone who had, including 48% who had faced it personally; Hindustan Times added that almost 90% called discrimination against Muslim Americans at least a moderate problem, as did 70% for Sikh Americans and 64% for Hindu Americans. 2 3

Centre · 1Among respondents who feel events affecting other South Asian Americans strongly affect them, 71% plan to vote Democratic, and 58% of that group oppose the Trump administration's ICE enforcement in cities, according to the survey as quoted by Hindustan Times. 3 Centre · 2The survey said 16% of respondents had not voted in any general election since 2020, and it stressed turnout potential: nearly 30,000 registered South Asian voters in Michigan skipped 2022, more than the roughly 19,000 votes that decided the state's 2024 Senate race, and nearly 100,000 in Texas did so. 2 1 Centre · 1Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, said it was no surprise that a quarter of Trump's 2024 voters in the community plan to vote Democratic, adding that the community "can make the margin". 2

Centre · 1Hindustan Times placed the result alongside other polling: an AAPI Data survey in August found 66% of Indian Americans planning to back Democrats for Congress, and a Carnegie Endowment survey before the 2024 election had 32% of the community planning to back Trump, though Indian Americans still leaned Democratic then. 3 Centre · 1Hindustan Times attributed the erosion in support to dissatisfaction with the economy and Trump's decision to launch a war with Iran, and cited a 2026 Carnegie report saying 71% of Indian Americans disapproved of his first year of his second term. 3 Centre · 2The PTI-based Hindustan Times report and the Times of India also cited Vasant Bhatt, 21, who interned for Senator Ted Cruz in 2024 and said he voted for Democrat James Talarico, who is in a tight Texas Senate race against Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton as early voting begins. 2 1