Posted on 03/17/2016 10:34:51 PM PDT by 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.
It’s the hotel and motel thing.
Now you’ve got me thinking of that Old School Rap song” Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn.”
It would be fantastic if he could convert that demographic for us.
“The page portrays Trump as Hindu god Vishnu, making him seated on what looks like a lotus with “Om” written at its centre.”
Lol. Statues next.
“It’s the hotel and motel thing.”
Just to confirm your humorous comment, my housekeeper (who is from Nepal, hard working 20 something year old) here at my hotel in Abu Dhabi has been following Trump. Pretty funny as he brought up the subject, not me and has been fairly accurate in calling which states Trump should win in the primary. Maybe FOX will hire him. :)
Bret Baier (of all people) did a very good live performance of this song, Rappers Delight, a few years ago.
The breadth of his appeal is simply astonishing. If he survives to election day, this could well be the biggest blowout in US history.
Trump has a wide cross section of support that will help him win the general election in November.
Sounds like all the Indian H-1B front corporations are making this up to soothe - or buy - Trump, who, at the moment, wants to reduce H-1B visas.
In 2008, more than 85% of Asian Indian Americans supported Obama.
In 2012, more than 75% of Asian Indian Americans voted to re-elect Obama.
What about the governor of South Carolina?
Re: “The breadth of Trump’s appeal is simply astonishing. If he survives to election day, this could well be the biggest blowout in US history.”
I’m still waiting to see Trump’s alleged general election “victory” broken down into concrete data points.
In 2012, Mitt Romney was the first presidential candidate in American history to get 59% of the white vote - and lose!
Are you guys expecting Trump to get more than 59% of the white vote? At least 40% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Trump. How is that going to happen?
In 2012, Romney got 27% of the Hispanic vote. After all the degrading things Trump has said about Mexicans, do you really think Trump can get more than 27% of Hispanics?
In 2012, Romney got 44% of the women’s vote. After all the degrading things he has said about women, how can Trump do better than that?
In 2012, Romney got 6% of the Black vote.
I think Trump will do better than that. But he will need at least 30% of the Black vote to win. And Republicans have received less than 30% of the Black vote for 15 consecutive presidential elections!
As “replacement Americans” they are a rapidly growing group in the US (and my state of NJ), but they are hardly conservative. In my town they’ve been charged with selling alcohol & tobacco to minors; anything seems justifiable in pursuit of money. Naturally I’d rather see them vote R instead of D; maybe taxes and crime will be issues that drives them to support Republicans.
Yes, but knowing several and being married to one I have some inside. What they are MOST concerned about is the economy. they ALL hate Hillary... and the feel Trump being a business man will simply be a better fit for them, thats really all it comes down to.
Right—they have tended to vote Democrat. That’s why Trump making a difference could really make a difference. Those I know will cite the poverty in India as an example of why you need government programs to protect and take care of the poor in order to justify their votes.
But they tend to live culturally very conservative lives, getting and staying married, becoming highly educated and working hard. Those in my town tend to be hedge fund managers, tech executives and entrepreneurs, and doctors.
In my area there are some of those but more of the merchant caste - Qwik-E-Mart types; still hard workers, but little involved in the larger community. Given their religious & cultural views, I can understand that.
Oh, and another thing they tend to be is frugal. Typical poor immigrant backstory, but one more trait that helps them succeed here.
Indians are very often professionals, business owners or work for a family business. Far from the gibsmedats the ‘rats preach to.
Indians also aren’t brainwashed regarding the Muslim issue. What others see as Trump’s “racism”, is common sense to them.
I remember that. Usually, Bret Baier has the countenance of a Traffic Cop or Mortician.
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