Trump confident about Indian Americans voting for him

iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-

Whatever is about him, President Donald Trump’s unfaillable optimism has largely won him all the support he wants.

Acknowledging the growing significance of the Indian American vote base for the coming election, the White House called out to the community and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying over the last four years Trump’s administration has built a great relationship and strongly believes they will vote for him.

A recent research by Mason in battleground states showed that Indian Americans who traditionally vote for the Democrats are switching over to the Republican party in significant numbers because the friendship that Trump has with Modi and the latter’s high popularity among a large section of the community who number four million in the US, of which 2.5 million are eligible to vote.

“We have great support from India. We have great support from Prime Minister Modi. I would think that the Indian (American) people would be voting for Trump,” the president told reporters at a White House news conference.

Trump was responding to a question on a video titled, “Four more years” released by the Trump Campaign during the Republican National Convention last month.

Tweeted by Kimberly Guilfoyle, national chair of Trump Victory Finance Committee and retweeted by his son Donald Trump Jr, the video conceptualized by Al Mason, co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, has short clips from the Modi-Trump joint address in Houston last year and Ahmedabad in February this year.

“Would Kimberly, Don Jr., and Ivanka Trump, who are very popular among Indian Americans, would be campaigning on your behalf among the Indian Americans with your views on India-US relationship?” he was asked.

“I know India and I understood those young people (Kimberley, Donald J Trump Jr and Ivanka) that you mentioned. They’re very good young people. And I know their relationship with India is very good and so is mine,” Trump said.

The president said that he has a very good relationship with Modi.

“Prime Minister Modi is a friend of mine and he’s doing a very good job. Nothing easy, but he’s done a very good job,” he said.

In recent weeks both the Democrats and Republicans have intensified their outreach to the Indian American community, in particular in the battleground states.

In the battleground states, they number 1.3 million as per a recent remark made by Indian Americans in the Democratic party. Mason’s survey was conducted before former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, selected Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, a move Democratic party leader believe would stem the flow of Indian Americans towards the Republicans.

In various writings and remarks the Democratic leaders in recent weeks have apprehended that Trump’s friendship with Modi might sway their traditional vote bank the election.

The Trump campaign believes that Indian Americans can play an important role in the election, especially in the battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, where the two rival campaigns would be battling for every vote.

Democratic campaign too is coming out with ideas and commercials to woo Indian Americans. The Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez has addressed the community virtually, wherein he has acknowledged the key role that Indian Americans can play in battleground states.

On August 15, both Biden and Harris made a video address to an Indian American event. The campaign has released a policy paper for Indian Americans.