Indian Americans’ approval ratings for Trump’s first year in office are lower (disapproval rates are higher) compared to all Americans. File | Photo credit: AP
A significant majority of Indian Americans disapprove of US President Donald Trump’s first-year job performance, according to the results of a new Indian Americans in a Time of Turbulence survey released Thursday (Feb. 19, 2026) by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. However, disapproval of Mr. Trump’s job performance has not translated into gains for the Democratic Party, which, despite having stronger support among Indian Americans compared to the Republican Party, is seeing lower levels of support from that demographic.
Just 29% of Indian Americans approved of Mr. Trump’s performance – the same share compared to 2020. The results are based on the 2026 Indian American Attitudes Survey (IAAS), which surveyed the attitudes of 1,000 Indian American adults between November 25, 2025 and January 6, 2026. The survey data has a margin of error of +/6%.
In terms of party affiliation, the Democratic Party saw its support among Indian Americans decline from 52% (2020) to 48% (2024) and then to 46% (2026). Republican Party affiliation, while rising from 15% to 19% between 2020 and 2024, remained at 19% in 2026. More than a quarter, or 29%, of Indian Americans polled identified as independents, up from 23% in 2020 and 25% indicating an increase in support for Democrats in 2024. Independent.
Indian Americans’ approval ratings for Mr. Trump’s first year in office are lower (disapproval rates are higher) compared to all Americans for whom data was collected in the current YouGov poll.
Degree of disapproval of Trump’s policies
The disapproval rate, broken down by policy area, is 64% for immigration policy, 68% for domestic economic policy, and 70% for international economic policy (trade, tariffs, sanctions).
However, there is a stark contrast across party lines, that is, between Indian Americans who are Republicans and those who are Democrats. A large majority of Republican Indian Americans, 76% of people, approved of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and 62% approved of his international economic policies. About 84% of Indian American Democrats disapproved of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and 86% disapproved of his international economic policies.
Indian Americans on Immigration Policy
Given the controversy and the impact of the administration’s immigration policies on the Indian American community, the survey focuses on five areas: arrests of undocumented immigrants who do not have a criminal record, workplace raids, deportation of immigrants to third countries, actions to end birthright citizenship, and a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas for skilled work.
Substantial majorities of Democrats oppose all five policy categories, while Republicans generally showed lower support for each than for immigration policy as a whole, although most Indian American Republicans still supported the individual policies.
Indian Americans on US relations with India
Only 20% of Indian Americans approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of relations with India, while 55% disapprove. Notably, according to the authors, a quarter of respondents answered “don’t know” to this question, indicating that the issue is of limited importance to many Indian Americans. Approval of the handling of Indian relations was at 35% in 2020 at the end of the first Trump administration and 48% in 2024 at the end of former US President Joe Biden’s administration.
Between 2024 and 2026, younger Indian Americans (18-29) shifted back to Democrats, according to the survey. This is significant given the increased support among younger Americans for Mr. Trump in the November 2024 election. Those over 50 moved to the Republicans. Support for the Democratic Party dropped significantly among those without a college degree and remained stable among those with a college degree. Indian Americans with income above $100,000 switched to the Democratic Party.
Across religious groups in the Indian American population, Hindus tend to be more Democratic, while Christians tend to be more Republican. In fact, between 2024 and 2026, Christian Indian support for the Republican Party rose from 33% to 43%, while support from Hindus and Muslims declined.
The survey report was written by Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur, Andy Robaina and Milan Vaishnav.
Published – 19 Feb 2026 23:11 IST