Indian-American netizens favour Donald Trump as US president

The Times of India ^ | March 15, 2016 | IANS

[2ndDivisionVet]

NEW DELHI: Indian-Americans' political preferences seem to be shifting in favour of the Republican Party, particularly Donald Trump, its frontrunner for the White House.

According to social media trends, the US's third largest ethnic group is overwhelmingly supporting Trump -- a billionaire real estate businessman-turned-politician who has courted many controversies ever since he jumped into the fray.

Indians in the US have traditionally been the vote bank for the Democrats. According to a study, as many as 65 per cent of Indian-Americans leaned towards Democrats, making them the Asian-American subgroup most likely to identify with the party.

But this time there has been a shift, arguably for the first time in the American electoral history.

Several groups of Indian-Americans, a majority of them Hindus, have taken the social media route to voice their support for Trump. As the 2016 presidential election draws closer, various online communities and pages have come up in support of the realtor.

One such page on Facebook is "Hindus For Trump". With around 750 "likes", the page in its description says: "American Hindus are model citizens, educated and industrious. We want a responsible nation where Americans are both safe and free."'

The page portrays Trump as Hindu god Vishnu, making him seated on what looks like a lotus with "Om" written at its centre.

There is also a Political Action Committee (PAC), formed by leading Indian-American businessmen to pool in support and contribution for an effective presidential campaign of Trump. PAC is a type of organisation that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates or legislations.

Indian-Americans For Trump 2016, one of the PACs supporting Trump, is formed by the members of the American-Hindu community, including Sudhir Parikh, who is the advisory chair for the organisation.

Parikh is the owner of Parikh World Media, an umbrella corporation which houses news outlets influential among Hindus such as Desi Talk, the Indian American and the Gujarat Times.

However, this is not the first presidential endorsement by Hindus for Trump. The world renowned and cross-sectional Indian American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF) endorsed him for the White House in August 2015 in its widely-circulated "India World Geopolitics" newspaper.

Although there has been a massive support for Trump from the Hindu community, a fraction of people from the Muslim community also seems to be supporting him, undeterred by his controversial remarks against the community.

Trump in one of his addresses said that "Islam hates us" and asserted that those having hatred against the US be denied entry into the country. He also called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on".

The Republican has also made scathing remarks against the immigrants in his addresses.

Indian-Americans are among the most highly educated racial or ethnic groups in the US, according to a Pew Research Centre study.

According to the study, Hindus make for 51 per cent of 3.2 million Indian-Americans, while Christians and Muslims comprise of 18 and 10 per cent respectively.

[zeestephen]

Re: “They [Asian Indians] ALL hate Hillary... and they feel Trump being a business man will simply be a better fit for them, that’s really all it comes down to.”

Thanks for explaining that.

Now I understand why 75% of Asian Indian Americans voted AGAINST Mitt Romney.

[wyowolf]

You don’t get it...I can only tell you from the dozen or so I know.

[Republican1795.]

I think you totally underestimate the appeal of Trump in this unique election cycle. Trump is drawing people to vote for him who have never voted before. I cannot overstate the importance of that point. The VAST majority of people simply do not vote in elections. If Trump can pull even just a LITTLE from the vast never-voted crowd - it would be enough to win. Even in a landslide. The bulk of Trump's support comes from folks who never or rarely vote as they had long ago given up on the system. The statistics you cite are irrelevant simply because you are citing the KNOWN electorate. This election cycle Trump is activating the vast sleeping giant [ the unknown electorate ] who were generally never or seldom part of the active electorate! This is groundbreaking. Further Trump is even drawing Reagan Democrats & independents to vote for him - so he does not even have to have the establishment Republicans on his side. When the general election campaign starts: his attacks on Hitlery will be so ferocious & groundbreaking that he will sail to victory in a landslide. This will be like no election in American history because Trump will actually EXPOSE the Clintons as part of his campaign.

[Tai_Chung]

a billionaire real estate businessman-turned-politician who has courted many controversies ever since he jumped into the fray.

I don't think his views are controversial to most Americans. It is more of the norm and opposition to it should be considered controversial.

It seems that no issue is considered controversial unless the mainstream media declares it so. That declaration is picked up by foreign media and repeated over and over again

I think Liberals use the word as a way to alienate their opponents and make them feel they are outside the norm.

Which view is really controversial?

Protect your boarders
Don't get screwed on trade deals
Don't get screwed on security deals
Don't fight wars unless you intend to win
Rebuild the military
Clean up the VA mess
Repeal and replace Obamacare
Eliminate the death tax
The 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms