Last week as US President Donald Trump was convalescing from Covid-19 at the Walter Reed hospital, Bethesda, Maryland, the battle for the US presidential election 2020 continued nationwide. Even as she wished the president and First Lady Melania Trump a speedy recovery, democratic vice president nominee Senator Kamala Harris was all business at a fundraiser Q&A attended by THE WEEK. “The stakes in this election couldn’t be higher,” she stressed.
With early voting already under way, Harris brought the star power of former president Barack Obama to draw out the democratic vote. Obama, too, issued this serious reminder: “There are very concrete issues that are going to impact the well-being, the health, the welfare of millions of people determined in this election.” Learning from the loss of 2016, the Democrats are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters from every community, including the 1.3 million-strong Indian American electorate.
Those expecting a Joe Biden-Harris juggernaut, powered by the Indian-American vote, to overtake Trump by virtue of Harris’s Indian lineage need to hold off celebrations. The Democratic Party’s stand on Kashmir and the abrogation of Article 370 and calling out India on human rights and other issues could hurt them at the polls.
Trump, on the other hand, has made overt efforts to showcase his outreach. Be it the Howdy, Modi! event in Houston last November, visiting India this February despite no major trade deal being inked, observing an indifferent silence on the Kashmir issue and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and Modi’s endorsement of Trump itself has touched a chord with groups like ‘Hindus for Trump’, ‘Sikhs for Trump’ and ‘Indians for Trump’.
While Indian Americans lauded Harris’s meteoric rise as a big moment for the diaspora and Trump bragged, “I have more Indians than she has”, Harris focused on acts of voter suppression. At the fundraiser Q&A, she urged: “Ask the question, ‘why are so many powerful people trying to make it so difficult for us to vote?’ Because, when we vote, things change.”
Where Indians are concerned, the Biden-Harris ticket is already committed to change on a key issue, that of overturning the Trump curbs on H1-B visas. Biden also acknowledged the contribution of Indian Americans at a fundraiser end September, saying: “You have helped forge an economic and cultural dynamism in this country.” Interestingly, the Asian American Voter Survey, released mid-September, indicates 54 per cent of Indian Americans were pro-Democratic and most inclined to vote for Biden-Harris while 16 per cent identified as pro-Republicans, rallying behind Trump.
The Democratic Party is not taking the poll numbers for granted though. Harris, who has been faulted for acknowledging her black identity over her Indianness, finally appears to be addressing Indian-American voters head on. The duo has been attending virtual campaign events. The grassroot network has been feverishly working phone and texting banks to reach Indian-American voters. Such is the seriousness that in the swing state of Pennsylvania, on October 2, Democrats held a phonebank with former US ambassador to India Richard Verma, who attended the event as a private citizen.
If Biden has his admirers in the Indian American community, so does Trump. His handling of the economy, jobs, tax reforms and China has resonated with them. As per the AAPI survey, men are driving up the pro-Republican vote among Indian Americans. In 2016, 71 per cent of Indian-American men had voted Democrat, and 21 per cent Republican. In 2020, 41 per cent of the men are estimated to vote Republican and 57 per cent Democrat. Whether this translates into actual votes remains to be seen. In 2016, the Republican vision appealed to corporate executive Raj Bandekar, 51, of Pennsylvania. Today, he is undecided if he will vote Trump again. His minor gripe is that “Trump did not successfully merge corporate thinking and government stability”.
When Trump won in 2016, he did so on the promise that he would “drain the swamp”. Many agree that Trump has shaken things up, perhaps a bit much. What has not gone down well with many Indian-American voters is this administration’s tendency to play Russian roulette with issues of governance, health care and national security. Is that enough to tip Bandekar over to camp Biden? Apparently not. “I need to see a bit more spark in Biden,” he says. “He needs to spell out what he intends to do about our country’s 2.3 trillion dollar debt and how he plans to add jobs and fix health care.”
On the other hand, Biden-Harris seem to have struck the right note with Arun Natarajan, 52, from Minnesota. A PhD in engineering-material sciences, Arun voted Republican since 1998, gave Obama his vote for both terms and returned to the Republican camp in 2016 after Obama’s promise of a solid health care plan fell short. “I felt maybe Trump being a businessman could make a better deal, perhaps do something to upgrade health care,” he says. But with Trump out to axe the health care plan with no concrete replacement, Arun turned in his ballot early this time, voting for Biden-Harris based on their commitment to fix health care. “They address my number one issue,” he says. “A person’s quality of life depends on his health. Had Biden-Harris focused more on immigration and wars, they would have lost my vote.”
Pitched battle: Melania and Donald Trump with Joe and Jill Biden after the first presidential debate in Cleveland on September 29 | AP
When asked “seven months in to the pandemic what keeps you up at night?”, both Obama and Harris grew sober. Citing the 2.05 lakh Covid-19 deaths and over 70 lakh people who have contracted the virus, Harris condemned the Trump administration’s effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act, put in place by the Obama-Biden team. “I cannot stress how important having the affordable health care act that covers pre-existing conditions is,” said Harris. “Especially given that Covid will become a pre-existing condition, given [its] potential for lung scarring and heart damage.” This approach is probably what has 83 per cent women leaning pro-Democrat and only 17 per cent pro-Republican.
Interestingly, Indian-American women who support Trump face greater rebuke than their male counterparts for doing so. Political science student and first-time voter Athmika Dubey blames it on Trump’s rhetoric and how much he has polarised the electorate based on gender, race, religion and economic status. Biden, she says, would be the better president for America. A President Biden would be better for India, too. It was under Obama-Biden’s tenure that India received a niche ranking as a major defence partner, she recalls. Dubey also points out that “both India and the US need to rein in China for different reasons. And a tempered statesman like Biden can accomplish that”. Bandekar disagrees, believing Trump’s strong-arm tactics are the need of the hour to deal with China.
Members of the Indian-American electorate often discuss China in the Indian and American context. They wonder how Biden-Harris will handle this challenge, given the roughing up of relations with China under the current administration. Californian entrepreneur Rehan Dastagir hopes Biden can bring his statesmanship to work, iron out stronger trade policies through dialogue, ink better trade deals and “avert a new cold war”.
Others at the fundraiser believe a Biden presidency would restore bilateral ties to the point advocated by him in 2006, when he envisioned US and India as close partners by 2020. They maintain a Biden administration might even advocate a permanent seat in a reformed UN Security Council, given it was first mooted by Obama-Biden in 2010.
In the final weeks of campaigning, Biden-Harris and their supporters are even wooing Indian-American voters Bollywood-style. California-based entrepreneur couple Ajay and Vinita Bhutoria released a digital graphic in 14 languages with the slogan—“America Ka Neta Kaisa Ho, Joe Biden Jaisa Ho (How should be America’s leader, just like Joe Biden)”. The couple had also put together a music video, featuring Biden-Harris, based on a song from Aamir Khan’s movie Lagaan. With a few tweaks, it reads, “Chale chalo, Chale chalo, Biden ko vote do, Biden ki jeet ho, Unki haar, haan (Let’s go, let’s go, vote for Biden; May Biden win, their defeat, yes)”.
Those Indian Americans, especially the younger generation, holding out their vote admit they just want to get a better feel of the Harris vibe. They have celebrated with pride her rise to power, but they are not about to vote on the basis of their Indian identity alone. They listen keenly to her plans on the issues close to their heart—civil rights, education, climate change and immigration. The more they hear, they admit they might be warming up to the idea of a Vice President Kamala Harris and the promise to “build back better” with a President Joe Biden.