Why do Indian Americans Support Obama?

The Wall Street Journal's India Real Time ^ | June 3, 2012 | Visi Tilak

[2ndDivisionVet]

An overwhelming 85% of Indian Americans support Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, according to a poll conducted earlier this year. The results of the study, which were published in early May, also revealed that only 67% of Indian Americans polled voted for Obama in 2008.

Mr. Obama’s life story seems to resonate better than Mitt Romney’s with many Indian Americans. In the study, which was conducted by Lake Research Partners, on the question of Obama vs. Romney, the ratio was a staggering 76 to 8 in favor of Mr. Obama.

Mr. Obama has shown strong support for Indian Americans, appointing them to some of the highest offices and continuing to laud the contribution of Asian Americans, even though his outsourcing policies have raised eyebrows...

[PIF]

Casino Indians or computer Indians?

—

Better question:
Reservation indians or non-reservation indians (who constitute the majority of American Indians)?

[PIF]

And the tribal ruling families (who collect all that money) have a never ending supply of poor indians to point to when those ruling families need more money ... at least that’s how it works in the Pacific North West.

[Yardstick]

It’s the culture and the history. If you don’t grok them you’re going to be a Democrat. Anyone who feels like an outsider to any degree will be a Democrat. This is visceral and trumps otherwise conservative leanings such as strong work ethic and belief in economic liberty. At least for a generation or two.

[Amberdawn]

They may have been insular, but they worked for what they got and didn’t get welfare.

[Godwin1]

Reliability of third world statistical data aside—one child, forced abortion China is not on the top twenty list—, abortion is simply not an option for most Indians. They can't afford it, or any other kind of medical procedure. But among those for whom it is an option, the middle classes, sex-selection abortion is widespread. Here in the USA Indians account for nearly all sex-selection abortions and contribute disproportionately to our own admittedly “shameful” statistics. Yes ,”shameful”, but no reason to import more of it.

[HenpeckedCon]

If most Indians are like Granny Warren and Ward Churchill is this really a surprise?

[llandres]

Bfl

[Clintonfatigued]

” “Ron Bhalla, a GOP candidate for Congress from Tennessee’s 3rd district, however says that a growing number of American Indians are believing in conservative principles. “I do know in the past a good majority of Indians were Democratic minded but over the years the trend is changed,” he told India Real Time.

“Whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, small business owners or farmers, Indian Americans in my district are concerned about overregulation, lack of school choice, and other issues the Republican Party is well poised to address,” added Ricky Gill, a Republican Candidate for Congress from California’s 9th district.

“If we break bread over these issues of common concern, I believe the Republican Party can succeed electorally among Indian Americans and other minority communities in California and beyond,” said Mr. Gill, who has been labeled a “young gun” candidate by the National Republican Congressional Committee. “

I’m inclined to agree. Indian-Americans believe in entrepeunership and if Republicans communicate their message effectively to them, they’ll win their votes. Also, if Obama is defeated for reelection, having a few qualified high-profile Indian-Americans in improtant posts will be a plus.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I am the last thing there is from an identity-politics kind of guy. I don't judge anybody by anything other than how they treat me. If they treat me with respect, I do the same.

I work with several Indians. One in particular has been here a long time. He has owned a business and listens to Rush Limbaugh. We have to be careful when we talk politics so that no one hears us, but he and I have identical views on just about everything.

We live in a town that has a lot of government employees, including a lot of new Indian immigrants. He was telling me just this week about how there are cliques of immigrant Indians in town. A lot of the wives work in IT in the big government departments. Some of them know absolutely NOTHING about programming, but if the department is big enough no one notices and they collect paychecks. They are willing to work a lot cheaper than the going rate, which is why they get hired. If a man gets another immigrant's wife a job, his status in the group is enhanced. If a woman can get a few government jobs, even if she only lasts a few months, she has enhanced her resume.

This came up because we had to fire one such woman this week. She literally knew nothing. She was hired as a programmer, but she couldn't even navigate through the internal web page we use to log our work hours.

[fish hawk]

If other tribes are like mine, nepotism runs wild.

[mnehring]

Ditto. I wonder if this poll is based on those who go out of their way to identify themselves as Indian-Americans versus even first generation immigrants who integrate more and don’t hyphenate themselves?

[x]

It's a funny couple of weeks. A few months back I would have read the headline and know exactly who they were talking about. But after all this Elizabeth Warren stuff, I keep thinking about the Cherokee-type Indians. Maybe they should rename the subcontinent to something more distinctive so that we can keep these groups straight.

Why do Indian-Americans support Obama? If they do, it's probably because of the states they live in. As a rough guess, well over half of all Indian-Americans must live in CA, NY, NJ, IL, and TX, almost all of them in metropolitan areas. It's likely they'd vote for the Democrat.

All the more so, if -- like many Jews -- they feel a little out of place among people who are strongly Christian. It would be interesting to find out if Christian Indian-Americans (as well as Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist) are as pronouncedly for Obama to the same degree as American Hindus are (according to this article). Also, you have take into account that a lot of Indians are Muslim, and would support Obama given his background.

[Cyber Liberty]

Free stuff?

[x]

Two more factors. They're probably a younger ethnic group, with a lot of young unmarried professionals, the sort of people who strongly supported Obama last time. I don't know why they'd support him again, especially if they don't have jobs, but the younger the average age of an ethnic group in 2008 -- and again, this is a guess on my part -- the more likely they were to support Obama.

The other factor: if you think of yourself as a newcomer, you aren't going to make waves. You're going to try to fit in if you can. Indian-Americans in my area who registered as Republicans in the Bush years are registered as Democrats now. Maybe it goes back to the politics of developing or newly independent countries where people get behind the one big governing party -- the Congress Party in India -- so as not to be left out or antagonize the forces that be.

[GlockThe Vote]

Very simple - color of skin trumps EVERYTHING for minorities.

[entropy12]

Very simple - color of skin trumps EVERYTHING for minorities.

Right! Bobby Jindal being a good example! /S

[GlockThe Vote]

Jindal is the exception, not the rule. If Obama were white , he would e at 25 percent approval at best. His ratings are propped up by mnrity support.

[entropy12]

Why do Indian-Americans support Obama? If they do, it's probably because of the states they live in. As a rough guess, well over half of all Indian-Americans must live in CA, NY, NJ, IL, and TX, almost all of them in metropolitan areas.

You are presenting the most logical & pertinent factor here. It is indeed true that most Indians live in those areas. Natural born Americans living in those areas, whether they be white, Latino or Black are also in the majority liberal. Indians are kind of people who like to blend in and not cause waves. If you have noticed, Indians (from India) are not known to cause large scale protests and demonstrations. When I lived in Chicago, the democratic precinct captain was the only politically active person who tried to befriend me. No wonder I was a democrat in those days.

[entropy12]

I could’nt agree more that big government is the most damaging factor in hurting prosperity in every country it has been tried. Very large private corporations also have lot of waste.

[Impy]

Asian Indians.

“American Indians” aka Sitting Bull Indians aka it annoys me that we call both these groups the same thing, are one of the bedrock core constituencies of the rat party. More than even than gays, second only to Blacks in their level of support for rats. No one would make a headline questioning why THEY would support Obama.

I wonder how many people are part Indian and also part Indian. ;d