At least 25% of South Asian Americans who voted for US President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election plan to back Democratic candidates in the November 3 midterm elections, according to a survey by advocacy group Indian American Impact.The survey identified the cost of living (65%), healthcare (53%), jobs and wages (33%), and education (28%) as the key issues influencing voters ahead of the midterms.Of the 800 registered South Asian voters surveyed, 87% were Indian-Americans, while the remaining 13% were from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bhutanese, Maldivian, Afghani, Khmer and Burmese communities.Among respondents who voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, 96% said they planned to vote for a Democratic candidate in the upcoming polls.The survey found that while 67% of South Asian Americans who voted for Trump continued to support Republicans, 25% planned to vote for Democrats.The findings come as early voting has begun in several states, including Texas, where Democratic nominee James Talarico is locked in a tight race against Republican Ken Paxton, who has Trump’s backing.Vasant Bhatt, a 21-year-old second-generation Indian-American who interned on Senator Ted Cruz’s election campaign in 2024, said in a social media post that he had voted for Talarico.“I just cast my ballot for James Talarico. As a second-generation Indian American, I am thoroughly disgusted by the xenophobia, racial resentment, and increasingly brazen attacks on my identity,” Bhatt wrote.The survey also pointed to widespread concerns about discrimination. As many as 90% of registered voters said they had experienced discrimination or knew someone who had, while 48% said they had personally faced it.“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,” Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, said in a statement.The survey found that 16% of respondents had not voted in any general election since 2020.It also highlighted a broader sense of disillusionment with elected representatives. While 78% of respondents believed their vote could bring about change, 79% felt elected officials quickly lost touch with ordinary people. Another 67% said public officials did not care about the views of people like them, while 43% felt they had no say in government decisions.The findings underscore the potential electoral influence of South Asian American voters, particularly in closely contested states.Michigan has around 187,000 South Asian residents. Nearly 30,000 registered South Asian voters did not vote in 2022, exceeding the roughly 19,000-vote margin that decided the state’s 2024 Senate race.Texas, meanwhile, has more than 700,000 South Asian residents, with nearly 100,000 registered South Asian voters having sat out the 2022 elections.The Indian-American community also has a significant presence in California, Texas, New Jersey, New York, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Georgia.In battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina, where electoral contests can be decided by narrow margins, even a shift of one or two percentage points in voter support could influence the outcome.