US presidential election 2024: Support for Kamala Harris sees gender gap

Indians in the US have historically leaned Democrat. With a Democratic presidential candidate with Indian roots in the fray, the support should have been overwhelming. But it might not really be so, going by two surveys. Though Kamala Harris enjoys the support of around 60% of Indian-Americans, there is a gender gap. Indian-origin women outdo men from the community when it comes to supporting Harris, whose mother immigrated to the US from Tamil Nadu in India.

Harris holds popularity in the power and fame circuits of New York and California, but everywhere else, even within the Indian-American community, the voter-demographic is more complex.

There is a visible gender gap, similar to what is seen in the wider voter demographic in the US, where there is a battle of the sexes.

In the desi community, 51% of female respondents stated that they planned to vote for Harris compared to 41% who said they would vote for Trump. Among men, 45% planned to cast their vote for Harris, whereas 49% favoured Trump, according to a YouGov-Economist survey.

Another survey, the 2024 Indian-American Attitudes, by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, too, showed that Indian-American women backed Harris in greater numbers than men from the community.

INDIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN FOR HARRIS

Though Harris is a favourite with Indian-American women, younger men with roots in India are increasingly leaning towards Trump.

Around 67% of Indian American women said they intend to vote for Harris while 53% of men said that they would vote for Harris, according to the 2024 Indian-American Attitudes report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Whereas, 22% of women intend to vote for Trump and around 39% of men plan to cast their votes for him.

This is in an election whose language is increasingly gendered.

It started with Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance’s “childless cat ladies” attack on Harris.

Then came an attack on her VP candidate, Tim Walz. He was called “tampon Tim” for his policy of providing free tampons.

It is also an election between several men who think the world is changing too quickly around them and Trump might uphold some conservative values and several women who relate more to Harris’ policies focusing on reproductive freedom and autonomy for women.

In this election which sees voting patterns with a gender gap, there is an interesting sub-category within the gender demographic, which is age.

WHY YOUNGER INDIAN-AMERICAN MEN ARE BACKING TRUMP

Around 48% of Indian-American men under 40 favour Trump against 44% who back Harris.

“In contrast to the American electorate as a whole, younger Indian American men appear more open to Trump and more sceptical of Harris,” says the report by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Several Indian-Americans took to X to share their voting preferences.

“Kamala’s selective pride in her Black roots and lack of commitment to Indo-US relations are raising major red flags across our community,” wrote Utsav Sanduja, the founder of Hindus for America First.

Others on social media also discussed how Harris is a supporter of reproductive rights.

“#VoteHarris to regain women’s rights to make decisions for their own bodies. We are not chattel. Your vote is private,” wrote a woman on X.

This is how the Indian-American community in the US is deciding.

TRUMP SAYS ‘MANHOOD’ UNDER ATTACK, HARRIS FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

But the gender-gap in voting is present across the US.

In the US, some men feel the efforts to promote gender equality have gone too far, reports CBS.

This makes it tough for Kamala Harris to reach out to men who think the world is changing too rapidly, reports the BBC.

All these factors have widened the gender gap in voting.

A survey by the NYT and Sienna college found that women have maintained their years-long support base for Democrats and men for Trump. Harris has an advantage of 16 percentage points with female voters and Trump 11-point percentage with male voters.

But there are other factors in the gender-gap in the US.

Trump’s election rhetoric is around how “manhood is under attack”. He also states that he would “protect women”.

“Trump took the locker room talk out of the locker room – and his audience loved it. Riffing about penis size at a political rally, it was the ultimate pushback against stifling political correctness”, reported BBC.

The Harris campaign is trying to give autonomy to women and to “reject the misogyny” of the Harris campaign.

At the end, Harris speaks of women and their reproductive rights and Trump of “manhood under attack”. But both have also tried to reach out to people across sections and gender to emerge victorious in the US elections. Only time will tell how the gender-gap will pan out after the results are declared.