Narendra Modi comes to the U.S. next week for the second time as Prime Minister with solid public backing for his domestic and foreign policies back home, hoping to raise India’s profile in an America engrossed in Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. He may be getting closer to that goal with the upward trend over the last five years, in Americans’ viewing India as “very important” to the United States.
Indians overwhelmingly view the United States in the most favorable light above other major powers, and see it as their best economic partner according to a survey released Sept. 17, by the Pew Research Center. These feelings may not be reciprocated by Americans to the same degree going by a survey conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released Sept. 15, which shows barely a third of Americans believe the relationship with India is “very important.”
The Modi Bounce
The Pew study, “The Modi Bounce,” based on a survey of 2,452 Indians in April and May, shows 70 percent of Indians view the U.S. favorably and 63 percent see it as their strongest economic partner.
In contrast, the May-June survey of 2,034 Americans by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs published in, “America Divided: Political Partisanship and US Foreign Policy,” shows only 35 percent of Americans see a bilateral relationship with India as “very important.”
While the doubling in Americans’ assessment of India’s importance from 18 percent in 2010, to 35 percent today cannot be attributed wholly to the “bounce” with Modi’s victory and his yearlong leadership, his almost hyperactive foreign policy has raised India’s global presence and its positive image as a potential American investment destination, observers agree.
By the same token, a significant number of Indians feel a sense of being underappreciated on the world stage going by their response in the Pew survey. Only 39 percent believe the country is valued as it should be though this is up from 27 percent just a year ago. Which may be why more than 7 in 10 Indians expressed a lot of confidence in Modi’s handling of international relations and pride in their country has grown from 72 percent in 2014 to 85 percent in 2015. Two-thirds of Indians (66 percent) gave bipartisan support to Modi’s dealings with the U.S. and only 13 percent disapproved. “Modi’s appeal is a driving force behind this upsurge in Indians’ positive mood,” Bruce Stokes, author of the Pew study concludes. “Moreover, Modi’s aura has reinvigorated Indians’ faith in their government,” he adds in an article giving the highlights of the survey.
Foreign Policy
Indians overwhelmingly support Modi’s handling of not just the domestic economy but also his foreign policy overtures around the world. Indians’ backing for their prime minister translates into faith in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs, according to the Pew study.
Roughly nine-in-ten (91 percent) have confidence in Modi’s handling of international relations compared to 80 percent in former Prime Minister Singh in 2011. Of the 91 percent today, more than seven-in-ten (73 percent) expressed a “lot of confidence”, compared to 56 percent in Singh. Again, the intensity of Modi’s own party’s support was predictably high at 83 percent, but the high level of support from Congress Party ranks (63 percent) is far from shabby.
About two-thirds of Indian respondents have a “very” favorable view of current Prime Minister, and a year and four months after Modi’s resounding victory, public satisfaction has nearly doubled and pride in the country is up, the Pew study found. Almost three-quarters of the public surveyed thought economic conditions are good now, even though his critics claim Modi has not achieved any of his goals.
The Pew study results are not a surprise according to Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East and South Asia and a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, who has been involved in polling studies on South Asia over the last decade. There have been “amazing” positive views about America even when the two governments were struggling with issues, she told News India Times. However, she said domestic and foreign business are “not dazzled” by Modi’s economic momentum. “He had made more of a splash in foreign policy than economic policy,” Schaffer said.
Lifting Obama’s Boat
Today, President Obama’s popularity has also surged along with Modi’s among Indians. The Pew survey shows 74 percent see Obama in a positive light, up from just 48 percent in 2014. But the biggest reason for Indians’ appreciation of the U.S. is their admiration for the American economy. More than two-thirds (66 percent) see America as the world’s leading economic power, up 19 points since 2014. Six in 10 Indians (63 percent) believe it is more important for India to have strong economic ties with the U.S. compared to just 14 percent who think closer commercial ties with China would be in India’s best interest. Confidence in U.S. support for India as opposed to Pakistan has also risen in the last two years. Today, 45 percent believe American policy favors New Delhi over Islamabad, where in 2013, 36 percent of Indians thought that, the Pew surveys show.
Uninformed Americans
In contrast, there’s a much smaller proportion of Americans’ viewing bilateral relations with India as important, possibly related to lack of awareness about that country. Dina Smeltz, primary author of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs study, told News India Times, media coverage of India was lacking. “Besides, India is not a ‘burning’ issue and there’s a lack of familiarity. People don’t know that much about India’s role in the world,” Smeltz said.
Nevertheless, two in three Americans (63 percent) in the CCGA survey say it is desirable that India exert strong leadership in world affairs, Smeltz’s found, a result she believes, of Americans sensing some similarities between two democracies and knowing about the success of Indian-Americans in this country. Interestingly, a majority of Americans (55 percent) in her survey say that India is already playing a positive role in resolving the key issues facing Asia, up five percentage points from 2014, she told News India Times based on yet unpublished data. That could be a direct result of Modi’s outreach to Japan, China and East Asia in general. This is higher than the perception that China plays a positive role (35 percent), but below South Korea (58 percent), Japan (64 percent) and the US (74 percent), Smeltz noted.
Yet, Smeltz’s data shows nearly half (46 percent) of Americans surveyed had “not very much” confidence in India’s ability to deal responsibly with world problems. Only 3 percent had a “great deal” of confidence and 31 percent a “fair amount” of confidence on that front.
This again “may reflect a lack of familiarity with India’s positions and undertakings on the world stage,” Smeltz contends. Six in ten Americans (59 percent) expect that India’s influence in Asia will remain the same over the next ten years.
An additional three in ten (27 percent) say it will increase, similar to expectations of the US, Japan, and South Korean influence in Asia over the next decade.
Both the Pew and the Chicago Council’s surveys display an upward trend in how positively people in both countries view each other, albeit to a lesser degree in the United States.
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