Happening midway through every 4-year presidential election cycle, the midterm elections in the United States give voters a chance to decide which party controls Congress. Surveys and popularity votes pooled months ahead of this year’s midterm elections scheduled for November 3, 2026, show that a vast majority of Indian-American voters are leaning Left.
According to the 2026 Asian American Voter Survey, released on August 26 by Asian & Pacific Island American Vote (APIAVote) and AAPI Data, Asian American and Pacific Island voters (AAPI) are set to hold an increasingly consequential role in the upcoming elections, especially since there are 16 million eligible AAPI voters in 2026. These figures include 1.6 million newly eligible voters since 2022.
Who are Indian Americans supporting in the 2026 midterm elections?
Among major Asian American communities, Indian Americans are so far the largest group in favour of Democratic Senate candidates, with 66% supporting Democrats.
The 2026 Asian American Voter Survey further shows that the Democratic advantage isn’t simply restricted to Indian Americans but also extends across most Asian American diasporas. 60% of AAPI voters favour Democratic candidates for the US Senate, as opposed to 24% leaning towards Republicans. The gap is even bigger when considering candidates for the US House of Representatives, with 64% of AAPI voters favouring the Democratic Party and 22% leaning towards Republicans.
Filipino voters are the only group in the AAPI community among whom Republican preference (49%) surpasses Democratic support (42%).
What is influencing these voting choices?
Asian Americans’ vote choice has largely been influenced by their top issue of concern: the cost of living and inflation. According to the AAPI Data shared in the survey, 90% factor it in as very or extremely important, including 59% who regard it as extremely important. Next in line is health care, with 82% of Asian American voters deeming it their top concern, followed by jobs and unemployment at 80% and Social Security and Medicare at 80%.
Then comes education (79%), while crime and public safety (78%), war and foreign policy (78%), racism and racial discrimination/hate crimes (73%), immigration (68%) and abortion/ reproductive rights (61%), according to the 2026 AAPI Voter Survey.
The poll in question recorded responses of 2,066 AAPI voters (1,896 Asian Americans and 170 Pacific Islanders) between June 3 and July 27, 2026.
It highlighted that 90% of AAPI registered voters, including 91% of Asian Americans and 87% of Pacific Islanders, expressed their plans to vote in the forthcoming midterm elections. The numbers are up from where they stood in the two previous midterm cycles: 84% in 2022 and 86% in 2018.
Elsewhere, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s analysis of the 2026 Indian American Attitudes Survey in February showed that Democratic support among Indian Americans hasn’t fully rebounded even though roughly 7 in 10 of them disapprove of Republican leader Donald Trump’s presidential performance. The share of those identifying as Democrats fell from 52% in 2020 to 46% in 2026.
The findings also foregrounded that despite softening enthusiasm for Democrats, nearly half of Indian Americans blame the Republican Party for discrimination against their community, given the sudden escalation of online hate and anti-Indian rhetoric.
An estimated population of 5.2 million people in the US identified as Indian in 2023, according to the US Census Bureau, making them the second-largest Asian-origin community in the country.