New Delhi: The revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi government has led to massive international scrutiny, most significantly by the US government . The recent congressional hearings on the revocation and the subsequent curbs imposed by the government, are an example of this trend.
In order to provide an overview of US opinion on India, Paul Staniland, a political scientist from the University of Chicago wrote a blog post analysing various public opinion polls in America.
Democrats view India more favourably than Republicans
The biggest takeaway from Staniland’s findings is perhaps the political party split in the US.
While a large number of both Democrats and Republicans view India favourably – the former are more inclined to the country.
According to the 2017 Chicago Council Survey, 41 per cent of Democrats are more confident about India’s ability to deal with global problems as opposed to 27 per cent Republicans.
“In this measure, we see a partisan divide – Democrats are more pro-India than Republicans by 14-16 percentage points,” writes Staniland.
He adds that this is probably due to the fact that Indian-Americans are more inclined to support Democrats.
Massive shift in opinion towards India over the past 20 years
Staniland also observed that there has been a dramatic shift in the public opinion of Americans regarding India in the past 20 years. According to Gallup’s public opinion polls, 47 per cent Americans viewed India as favourable, while 38 per cent viewed it unfavourably in 2000.
By 2015, in a major shift, the number of Americans in support of India rose to 71 per cent.
Further, according to a 2019 Chicago Council Survey, 63 per cent Americans think that India’s relationship with the US is good for their national interests.
To put this in perspective, the countries viewed more favourably by Americans are their treaty allies – Japan (78 per cent), Germany (75 per cent) and South Korea (70 per cent).
Only 39 per cent Americans are in favour of Pakistan, according to these polls.
On Article 370
However, the Indian government has received substantial backlash from Democratic legislators after it revoked Article 370.
“India’s justifications for its actions in Kashmir have clearly not persuaded a chunk of Democratic lawmakers, despite Indian diplomatic efforts,” remarks Staniland.
“The globalised media environment makes other countries’ political systems more legible than in decades past: every campaign speech by Amit Shah is immediately visible to a global audience, as is every report about conditions in the Kashmir Valley,” he adds.