Indian Americans divided on present trajectory of Indian democracy: Survey

A new survey on political attitudes and beliefs of Indian Americans in the US called How do Indian Americans view India? Results from the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey released on Tuesday reveals new and some surprising results.

Indian Americans hold mixed opinions on the present trajectory of Indian democracy and “while a bare majority appears largely supportive of Narendra Modi and his government, a significant minority is not”. Indian Americans are concerned about the challenges government corruption and slowing economic growth pose to India’s future.

The report says the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the most popular political party among Indian Americans. One-third of respondents favour the BJP, while just 12 per cent identify with the Congress party. However, two in five Indian Americans do not identify with an Indian political party  — suggesting an arm’s-length relationship to everyday politics in India. Given the time, money, and energy the BJP and the diaspora poured into Modi’s engagement with it during his US visits, this finding could disappoint Modi supporters.

The report draws on the Indian American Attitudes Survey (IAAS) — a collaboration between the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Pennsylvania. IAAS is a cross-America representative online survey of 1,200 Indian American adults conducted between September 1 and September 20, 2020, possibly among the first systematic surveys of political attitudes in the Indian diaspora in the US.

The views of the diaspora are especially significant, given the outcry for and against the farmers’ protests and other issues from Indians in the US and elsewhere.

The report says Indian Americans hold broadly favourable views of Modi. Nearly half of all Indian Americans approve of Modi’s performance as prime minister. This support is greatest among Republicans, Hindus, people in the engineering profession, those not born in the US, and those who hail from North and West India. But it also says respondents are nearly evenly split as to whether India is currently on the right track or headed down the wrong track. Thirty-six per cent of Indian Americans report that India is currently on the right track, while 39 per cent believe it is on the wrong track. Twenty-five per cent of respondents expressed no opinion. By comparison, 67 per cent of respondents report that the US is on the wrong track, while just 33 per cent believe it is on the right track. 

The authors say that since coming to power in 2014, Modi “has made courting the Indian diaspora a signature element of his foreign policy. His outreach has been especially notable in the US, where Indian Americans are now the second-largest immigrant group in the country”.  

But how connected do Indian Americans feel with India? What do they think about recent Indian political developments? And how do they view the US’ engagement with India? 

A plurality of Indian Americans believes that the current levels of US support for India are adequate, while a large majority hold unfavourable opinions of China. However, Indian Americans are divided about US’ efforts to strengthen India’s military as a check against China. Foreign-born Indian Americans and those who identify as Republicans are more supportive of the US efforts to support India militarily.

Apart from differences in attitudes to India depending on age, generation of migrant and other factors, the report says Hindu Indian Americans hold very different views on domestic politics and policy in India. “These divisions, combined with generational and partisan differences, foreshadow a more fractured Indian American community in the years to come,” it says.