Dem
51
GOP
49
When you think of Asian Americans, who do you think of? Most people think of people with Chinese (or maybe Japanese) ancestry. Statistically, that is now wrong. Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the U.S. and Indian Americans are now the largest subgroup among them, not Chinese Americans. The number of people who consider themselves Indian-American is now 4.4 million, an increase of 50% from 2010 to 2020. To a considerable extent, that is due to immigration, especially highly educated workers in information and communications technology (ICT), medical fields, and finance.
This could have a political impact because Indian Americans skew heavily Democratic. They are keenly aware (and proud) that Kamala Harris is partly of Indian origin. In 2020, nearly three-quarters of Indian Americans voted for the Biden/Harris ticket and fewer than one-quarter voted for Trump/Pence.
This should not be surprising. As a group, Indian Americans are highly educated, something that correlates very strongly with being a Democrat. Here is a table showing the highest educational attainment of various Asian American subgroups. In terms of having a bachelor's degree or higher, Indian Americans are far and away the leaders, more than double Americans as a whole:
| Origin Group | High School or Less | Some College | Bachelor's or Higher |
| Indian | 15% | 10% | 75% |
| Malaysian | 21% | 14% | 65% |
| Mongolian | 18% | 22% | 60% |
| Sri Lankan | 20% | 20% | 60% |
| Korean | 23% | 20% | 57% |
| Chinese | 29% | 14% | 57% |
| Pakistani | 26% | 17% | 57% |
| All Asians | 27% | 19% | 54% |
| Indonesian | 25% | 23% | 53% |
| Japanese | 21% | 27% | 52% |
| Bangladeshi | 35% | 16% | 49% |
| Filipino | 22% | 30% | 48% |
| Thai | 34% | 21% | 45% |
| Nepalese | 42% | 13% | 44% |
| All Americans | 39% | 29% | 33% |
| Vietnamese | 45% | 23% | 32% |
| Cambodian | 55% | 24% | 21% |
| Hmong | 46% | 31% | 23% |
| Burmese | 65% | 12% | 23% |
| Laotian | 56% | 27% | 18% |
| Bhutanese | 75% | 10% | 15% |
With the Republicans constantly railing against immigrants, that is sure to increase voting participation among Asian Americans, most of whom lean Democratic, and especially among Indian Americans. While it is a relatively small group, it is also a relatively well-off group, which typically translates into donating money to favored candidates and parties, and these are unlikely to be Republicans. (V)