Indian American Impact released findings from a nationwide poll showing that 60% of likely South Asian American voters surveyed plan to vote for a Democrat in congressional elections, while 22% plan to vote for a Republican.
The survey, conducted by HIT Strategies among 800 registered South Asian American voters, also found that 17% of likely voters were undecided, according to a statement from Indian American Impact.
Among likely voters who supported Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, 96% said they planned to vote Democratic for Congress. Among those who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, 67% said they planned to vote Republican, while 25% said they planned to vote Democratic.
The poll found that the cost of living and healthcare were the leading concerns among likely voters. Sixty-five percent identified the cost of living as a top issue, followed by healthcare at 53%, jobs and wages at 33%, and education at 28%, according to the statement.
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The cost of living ranked as the leading issue among Democrats, independents and Republicans alike.
The survey also found that 90% of registered voters had personally experienced discrimination or knew someone who had, including 48% who said they had experienced discrimination themselves.
Among those who reported personal experiences of discrimination, 63% most often cited other Americans unfamiliar with South Asian cultures. The poll also found that 89% of registered voters said what happens to South Asians in the United States affects their personal lives.
“South Asian American voters are paying attention,” said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact. “They want leaders who will bring down the cost of living and protect their healthcare, and they are living through an unprecedented rise in hate. It comes as no surprise that a quarter of Trump’s 2024 voters in our community plan to vote Democratic. This community can make the margin, and we are working to reach every voter who can.”
While 78% of registered voters surveyed said their vote could bring about change, many expressed doubts about whether elected officials were listening to people like them, according to the statement.
Seventy-nine percent said elected officials quickly lose touch with ordinary people, while 67% said public officials do not care what people like them think. Forty-three percent said people like them have no say in what the government does.
The statement said voters who identified as independents without leaning toward either major party accounted for 17% of registered voters surveyed. Of those voters, 72% were undecided about their congressional vote, and 55% did not vote in 2024. Sixty-three percent said their vote had the power to bring about change, compared with 78% of all registered voters surveyed.
The poll also found that 16% of registered voters surveyed had not voted in a general election since 2020. Among that group, 74% said their vote had the power to bring about change.
Indian American Impact said South Asian American voters could influence close races, pointing to voter participation figures in Michigan and Texas.
Michigan is home to approximately 187,000 South Asian residents, and nearly 30,000 registered South Asian voters did not vote in the 2022 election, according to the statement. The organization noted that the number exceeded the approximately 19,000 votes that decided Michigan’s 2024 Senate race.
In Texas, which has more than 700,000 South Asian residents, nearly 100,000 registered South Asian voters did not vote in 2022, the statement said.
HIT Strategies conducted the survey from September 18 to 26, 2026, using live telephone interviews and text-to-web responses drawn from the L2 voter file. The survey defined likely voters as those who participated in at least one of the past three general elections.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3.88 percentage points for registered voters and 4.42 percentage points for likely voters.
