Remember Ravi Patel of Meet The Patels fame? You know, the Indian-American who toured Gujarat with his parents, dodging the idea of an arranged marriage?
He and his family have taken to the screen once again – but this time, he wants to make sure his family casts their votes.
“This is not only one of the most critical elections in our lifetime, but also very historic and exciting for Asian Americans. It’s deeply personal for me and my entire family to see Kamala Harris so close to becoming the Vice President of the United States. This isn’t time for any of us to sit on the sidelines, but to do everything we can to elect Biden and Harris. We can make a difference in this election if we can get our parents, then our aunties and uncles and our cousins to vote. Call, zoom, text – do whatever you can.”Ravi Patel to The Quint
On Wednesday, 21 October, Joe Biden put also out the tweet that read "Whether it’s your first time voting or you’re an old pro, voting is better with friends and family. So message a few folks and make your plan to vote together today".
With the tweet was the video of Megha, and her 'baba', Ramanuj, a naturalised US-citizen and first-time voter who tried to navigate the mail-in ballot while casting his vote for the Biden-Harris ticket.
Indians are the second-largest group of people who have been naturalised as US Citizens, after Mexicans, and so it is important for both the campaigns to reach out to this demographic. Voting in Asian American families too, is arguably, more a family affair than it is in caucasian ones.
Research has found that regardless of being born in the US or not, Indian Americans tend to be more democratic in their political inclinations. "However, there are some differences", says Milan Vaishnav, co-author of the survey 'How Will Indian Americans Vote? Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey'.
"Naturalised citizens are slightly more likely to identify as independents. They tend to be less firmly rooted in ideological or political framework, and they also tend to vote less often.”
This has arguably led to the two parties attempting to courting this voter demographic – one that can make a significant difference in 'swing states'.
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