What makes a successful Indian American political candidate?

Abstract

ABSTRACTIndian American candidates have been increasingly visible in recent elections in the U.S., even as Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans remain an under-represented population across American government. In this research note, we report results of an experiment to test how voters react to several characteristics of hypothetical Indian American candidates: religion, use of ‘given’ Indian names or ‘Americanized’ nicknames, gender, and party. Through a survey-based experiment testing variations on a fictional candidate profile, we find that candidates who identify as Hindu or Sikh are evaluated less positively than Christian candidates. However, these moderately negative effects are primarily limited to Republican respondents. A candidate’s use of given name or nickname does not have significant effects for candidate relatability to respondents or for respondent vote intention.