New York City, NY, USA: A recent study reveals that Indian-Americans donate significantly more to Democrats compared to Republicans. In the 2020 election cycle, they contributed $46.6 million to Democratic candidates, while Republicans received only $16.3 million.
The analysis, titled “An Emerging Lobby: An Analysis of Campaign Contributions from Indian-Americans, 1998–2022,” examined two decades of political donations. Conducted by researchers Karnav Popat and Vishnu Prakash of Ashoka University, along with Joyojeet Pal of the University of Michigan, the study drew data from Federal Election Commission records compiled by OpenSecrets.
According to Pal, one factor behind former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on India may have been the lack of financial backing from the Indian-American community. In 2016, only 0.6 percent of political contributions from Indian-Americans went to Trump — one of the lowest support levels among all ethnic groups.
Although the research did not include donations for the upcoming 2024 election, it highlighted that contributions from the Indian-American community surged by 550 percent over two decades — from about 6,700 donors in 2000 to more than 43,000 in 2020.
To identify donors, the team cross-referenced names against a database of nearly 39 million names from Facebook. Names used across multiple countries, such as Khan, were excluded to maintain accuracy. Researchers admitted that this method might undercount Indian-American Muslims and Christians with more Westernized names. Major donors were manually confirmed to reduce errors.
Despite making up just 1.5 percent of the U.S. population, Indian-Americans contribute around 1 percent of overall campaign funds. Currently, all six Indian-Americans serving in Congress are members of the Democratic Party.
The healthcare sector contributed the highest number of donors, with over 3,600 physicians across 42 states making political donations. However, finance professionals gave the largest monetary total, donating $24.8 million in 2020, compared to $20.2 million from healthcare. Technology sector employees contributed $7.4 million that year.
Political influence also comes from Indian-American “bundlers” who arrange fundraising drives. Notable fundraisers include Ajay Bhutoria, Swadesh Chatterjee, Ramesh Kapur, Shekar Narasimhan, Deven Parekh, Shefali Razdan Duggal, Frank Islam, and Shalabh Kumar, all well-recognized in U.S. political circles.
The report also noted how Indian-American candidates often lean heavily on community support in the early stages of their campaigns. For instance, Representative Ro Khanna received about 80 percent of his initial donations from Indian-American supporters, while congressional candidate Suraj Patel raised $5.5 million, largely from donors sharing his last name.
Geographically, the largest contributions came from California, New York, and New Jersey. In 2020 alone, California accounted for $34.3 million of the total contributions.
