Republican gains have largely evaporated, with Indian-Americans swinging back towards Democrats.
The community’s return to traditional Democratic preference appears to reflect its immigrant and minority experience, support for legal immigration and social welfare, and discomfort with the MAGA Republican Party’s association with Christian evangelicalism and perceived intolerance of minorities. Racial hostility has compounded the alienation, with the September controversy involving Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, a grating example. After the University of Texas football team defeated Ohio State, French posted a photograph of brown students celebrating in the stands, suggesting their presence illustrated how Americans had been displaced by foreigners. The implication that students who looked Indian were somehow not American provoked outrage, inviting criticism from moderate Republicans like Senator John Cornyn, who has been sidelined by Trump, who has made little effort to contain the rampant racism of his nativist MAGA flock.
Yet the Democratic resurgence is not necessarily an ideological conversion, with 35 per cent of those intending to vote Democratic say opposition to Republicans, rather than enthusiasm for Dems, is their primary motivation. Meanwhile, 26 per cent identify as independents, underscoring the community’s political fluidity.
A new survey by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace finds that the Republican gains have largely evaporated, with Indian-Americans swinging back towards Democrats ahead of the November 2026 midterms. 62 per cent of Ind-Am citizens intend to vote Democratic in their congressional district, against just 19 per cent backing Republicans, whittled down from nearly 30 per cent who voted for Trump in 2024, according to the Indian American Attitudes Survey conducted in October. Another 12 per cent are undecided. Senate voting intentions show a similar pattern: 63 per cent favour Democrats and 21 per cent Republicans. The reversal is striking: In 2020, 68 per cent intended to vote for Joe Biden against 22 per cent for Trump. In 2024, Kamala Harris retained 62 per cent support, but Trump improved his showing to 30 per cent.