America’s Democrats still favour India at 50% as Republicans turn against it- Study

A new Pew Research Centre survey, conducted between February and May 2026 across 36 countries and 42,000 people, found that 45% of Americans view India positively, while 50% have an unfavourable view. That is one of India’s weakest ratings in the US since Pew began tracking the question in 2008. 

And the erosion isn’t evenly spread. It runs almost entirely down one side of the political aisle. 

Republicans are far more negative about India 

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 50% have a favourable view of India, compared with 47% who view it negatively.

 Among Republicans and Republican-leaning Americans, however, just 42% have a favourable view, while 55% have an unfavourable one. 

That creates a 13-point gap between the two political groups.

Age also plays a role. Americans aged 65 and above are evenly split, with 50% viewing India positively. Among people under 30, only 42% have a favourable view.

The difference is even clearer when looking at political ideology. About 54% of liberals view India positively, compared with just 40% of conservatives. 

The shift comes after nearly 18 months of major changes in US immigration and trade policy, along with a rise in anti-Indian content online. 

Trump’s H-1B move changed the mood 

One of the biggest turning points came on September 19, 2025, when US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications. 

The fee was a huge increase from the earlier range of about $2,000 to $5,000.

The move had a particularly large impact on Indians because more than 70% of H-1B holders are Indian nationals. The Trump administration said the policy was aimed at protecting American workers and described the H-1B system as one of the “most abused” parts of the immigration system.

The announcement also caused confusion almost immediately.

Passengers already flying between India and the US rushed to find out whether they could be stopped from entering the country. Technology companies and banks told H-1B employees not to leave the US. The White House clarified about 24 hours later that people who already held valid visas were not covered by the new fee.

By then, videos of worried passengers on a San Francisco-to-Dubai flight had already spread online. India’s Ministry of External Affairs also warned of “humanitarian consequences” for families that could be separated.

The US Chamber of Commerce, labour unions and religious groups later went to federal court to challenge the fee.

For India, the timing was especially important. Indian nationals had recently become the largest group of foreign students in the US, overtaking Chinese students. The H-1B system was an important next step for many of those students after graduation.

The new fee made that path far more difficult. Some IIT graduates who had once considered US postdoctoral offers almost automatic began turning them down. 

Then came the tariff fight 

The immigration dispute was followed by a major trade fight.

Trump imposed a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods in August 2025 and added another 25% penalty tariff over India’s continued purchase of discounted Russian crude oil. That pushed the total tariff on Indian goods to 50%, putting India among the countries facing the highest US tariffs that year. 

The impact was felt especially by labour-intensive industries such as textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery. Indian officials called the tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable”. Some Indian security experts accused Washington of using trade as a weapon against a strategic partner.

The situation began to improve only after several months.

In February 2026, Trump announced that the tariff would be reduced to 18%. He said the decision came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to reducing purchases of Russian oil and increasing investment in American energy and technology.

India reportedly pledged $500 billion in investment in the US.

But by then, Indian exporters had already spent months dealing with some of the highest tariffs imposed on a major US trading partner. Other countries, including the European Union, had also moved ahead with their own trade agreements with India during that period.

The US currently imposes a 10% tariff on certain imports from India under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, linked to concerns over forced-labour compliance.

Social media made the anger worse 

Social media also appears to have played a major role in the growing anti-Indian sentiment in the US. A report found that anti-Indian posts on X surged in 2025, with posts in August alone getting nearly 190 million views. 

Around 70% of the engagement involved claims calling Indian immigrants “invaders” or “job thieves”, along with calls for visa bans and mass deportations. Individual incidents, including a fatal Florida truck crash involving a Sikh driver, were also used to target the wider Indian community. Researchers said the US had become “the epicentre” of the rise in anti-Indian online racism, worse than in countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia. 

The rise in online hate has also been observed in wider concerns about anti-Asian and anti-South Asian abuse. 

Stop AAPI Hate data found that more than three-quarters of anti-Asian slurs recorded during one period targeted South Asians, while other monitoring found tens of thousands of slurs against the community in a single month. 

A proposed Hindu temple in Frisco, Texas, also became a flashpoint after facing organised opposition that included anti-Indian rhetoric. A Carnegie Endowment survey found that more Indian-Americans were reporting discrimination and online hate, even as face-to-face incidents remained relatively stable. 

This is mainly an American shift

Looking at the bigger picture, a Pew survey makes one thing clear — the decline in India’s image is not happening everywhere.

India’s favourability actually increased by 11 points in the UK and six points in Germany compared with 2025.

India also remains popular in Europe, Africa and much of Southeast Asia. Sri Lanka recorded a 79% favourable view of India, while Kenya stood at 71%.

The US is therefore different.

India’s global image remains fairly strong, with a worldwide median of 45% viewing the country favourably and 41% unfavourably. But in America, the balance has shifted in the opposite direction.

Why Trump’s India ties are more complicated than they seem

The shift in Republican attitudes does not mean Trump or the wider MAGA movement has simply turned against India. Trump has maintained a much warmer personal relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi than the recent tariff and immigration fights might suggest.

The two built a public friendship through events such as the 2019 “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston and the 2020 “Namaste Trump” event in Gujarat. Even during periods of tension, Trump has continued to describe Modi warmly, claiming that he would “always be friends” with the Indian prime minister.

India’s links to Trump’s political circle run deep as well. Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian origin, while Kash Patel, Vivek Ramaswamy and White House official Kush Desai continue to have prominent roles in Trump’s political orbit.

So while parts of the MAGA movement have grown increasingly hostile toward Indian immigration, the Trump camp itself still has strong personal and political ties to India.