United States of America, USA is all set to poll for its next President. The US Presidential Elections 2024 have ignited a strong interest even on domestic shores. While USA gets ready to vote in one of the most bitterly fought elections, the interest of Indians is piqued as they look west towards their extended family of 2.6 million strong Indian American community that is eligible to vote in the US Elections 2024. Even as India waits for the polling and the result that would announce who the next President of the USA would be, there is an increasing interest on who the Indian Americans are voting for. Is it Donald Trump or the Indian ‘origin’ Kamala Harris?

We reached out to Indian Americans in USA as to what way the mood is swinging. What are the factors that are tipping the scale and in whose favour? The answers were quite surprising with a strong Indian undercurrent and a curious ‘Modi’ factor.

To begin with, there was no clear mandate as the votes were largely divided. Within a family of Indian Americans, there were a few who were confident that Trump was a better choice while others who strongly backed Harris for her ‘progressive stand on women rights’ and her ‘Indian links’. When asked for reasons they were varied and diverse.

For Kamala Harris, the support was largely stemming from the fact that she may be the first female President of the United States of America. Her Indian roots were also mentioned but were not seen as a strong reason for them favouring Harris over Trump but rather her promised relief on the abortion ban.

“As a woman I am worried about my daughters’ health and Kamala, I believe, understands it too. The abortion ban is scary and I am surely hoping to raise my daughters where I am confident she would not be denied medical care because of a ban. I am not pro-abortion but I think it is a woman’s right and Harris stands for that,” shared Malti Singh*, an Indian American who has been in the country for over two decades now.

When quizzed on Harris being an ‘Indian origin’ candidate she shrugged it off. “Her being a woman I think is more of a reason than her being a woman of Indian origin. We are Americans now…”

On the other end of the spectrum, Harris was simply seen as a ‘patsy’ and there seemed no trust in her policies. For the Indian American families supporting Trump, it was more about his policies and ‘pro-India’ stand.

“I think he is the unpopular person but his policies have been good for the country. As a citizen and a working professional, I understand that business and economy would be benefitted by Trump. He is a businessman and he understands what is impacting this country. I want my children to have jobs and equal opportunity which I think Trump can provide,” says Govind Mehta* who works in the Silicon Valley.

“It is just like how people don’t like Modi. Same is the case with Trump. Both are outsiders…both are nationalists,” he added.

Strangely, his sentiment was shared by yet another republican. She believed that there is a deeper connect and Trump was a better choice for the Indian community in USA.

“I understand his stand on immigration but how is it wrong? As nationalists some decisions have to be taken which are pro-nation. He is think America first…how is it wrong?” she argued.

What was the most interesting regarding the responses garnered was a shadow of the Indian political preferences. Govind pointed out that it would not be amiss to suggest that PM Narendra Modi supporters are rooting for Donald Trump while Kamala Harris has more supporters from the faction that supports Rahul Gandhi. This curiious correlation, however, could not be corroborated with evidence.

Meanwhile, US is waking up to its polling day. As the sun rises on the East Coast in a few hours, Americans would throng to the ballot posts to cast their vote. Who they vote for is for them to decide. The polling time varies from state to state with most states commencing the polling at 7 am local time. The voting would conclude by 6 pm local time, which would – due to diverse time zones – go on till 5 am GMT on November 6. As for the results, it may take anywhere between 24 hours after the end of final voting for results to be declared.

*Names have been changed on request.