The 2012 US election results were announced and Barack Obama continues his second term in the White House after his victory over the Republican Mitt Romney. The 3 million Indian Americans had a strong say in this election who are among the best educated and highest earning ethnic groups in the country and it is quite interesting to note that most of them favored the Democrats. A sample survey was taken and according to that, in the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia and Colorado 75% of the Indian Americans favored Obama while only in Pennsylvania they voted for Mitt Romney though in the real election Pennsylvania also fell for Obama.

Among total Indian Americans living in US only 40% have registered to vote as other people are on temporary visa status. In this population, 60% favored Obama and 20% were for Romney. 10% of people did not want to say while the remaining 10% did not even bother to register to vote. When this is compared with other Asian American subgroups, it could be noted that the support of Indian Americans for Obama is statistically higher as 43% of Chinese, 32% of Filipino, 24% of Vietnamese, 49% of Korean, 49% of Japanese, 59% of Cambodian and 56% of Hmong favor Democrats.

If we analyze the reasons for their steadfast support for Obama, we could see two types. The first category is those who like Obama and his policies and the second category is those who dislike the policies of Republicans.

Now, let us see the views of those who favor Obama. Many older generation Indian Americans are very racist in their nature towards blacks believing that they are lazy, immoral and violent. But still, they think that Obama is articulate, intelligent and refined and not like other African Americans. They also think that Obama loves India and he is an admirer of Lord Hanuman. The Indian movies portraying Obama like My Name is Khan and Phas Gaye Re Obama may also be the reason why they consider him as closer to them when compared with Romney.

Obama has a close relationship with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he also supports the candidacy of India for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Above all, he is quite familiar with the Indian culture and has attempted to bring out bold policy changes in South Asia.

The second category of Indian Americans did not have much affection for Democrats but still favor them as they dislike the policies of Republicans and so wanted to go against them. Many Indian Americans have the perception that the Republican Party is opposed to immigration. The average Indian worries about the decrease in the number of issuance of the skilled Visas known as H1B which has recently come down from the all time high of 195,000 to 65,000.

The anti-outsourcing theory which has been played softly both by the Republicans and Democrats is another reason. Though both of them are for this, Republicans are viewed with a cynical eye regarding this matter while Obama has been given high job approval ratings by 81% of the Indian Americans. Romney has supported Pakistan during his campaign saying that the importance of Pakistan should not be underestimated. Many Indians dislike this opinion as Pakistan is considered as a rival of India for ages.

Indian culture favors the family system, sexual morality and virtuousness while homosexuality, abortion, marijuana initiatives and gay marriage are anathema to the majority of Indian Americans even now. They see Obama as the savior of Indian culture as he quotes Gandhi often in his speeches branding himself as an honorary Desi. Many people were of the opinion that the hurricane Sandy will have adverse effects on the vote bank of Democrats especially in the New Jersey and New York regions. But the election results have proved that the restoration works after Sandy was to their satisfying level.

With thousands of Indians waiting outside the American embassy for visas and considerable amount of Indian students enrolling in the American universities every year, India and Indians are always interested in US elections. So, the Indian American community as always had taken active part in every electoral process from fundraising to campaigning. When the results were announced they expect Barack Obama to continue with diplomacy repairing and reigniting the ailing US economy and meet the immediate challenges like high rate of unemployment and reformation of foreign policies.

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On November 07, 2012lView All Articles

I am Suhaina Mazhar working on India People features. Writing is my passion, writing is my hobby and writing is my career. I want to write till the last moment of my life.

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http://www.veethi.com/articles/indian-americans-and-2012-us-election-results-article-1150.htm

Keywords :
2012 US election results , Indian Americans , India and America , Barack Obama