Democrats Have ‘Warmer’ Feelings Toward India Than Republicans: Survey

Democrats harbor “warmer” feelings toward India than Republicans in the United States, according to a recent survey report released by Pew Research Center. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to express cold feelings toward China, while both express overwhelmingly negative views of North Korea, the report said.

The survey involved 4,581 adults who were asked to rate their feelings about 10 countries on a “feeling thermometer.” They had to give an average rating to these countries between 0 and 100, where 0 was for the coldest and 100 signified warmest feelings. Rating below 50 was cited as “cold” while a score of above 50 was “warm.” A rating of 50 was take as “neutral.”

The results showed that in comparison to Republicans, followers of the Democratic Party in the United States favored India in three different categories of response.

The survey, conducted between July 30 and Aug. 12 this year, showed that 31 percent Republicans exhibited cold feelings toward India. Among Democrats, 21 percent acknowledged their coldness for India. On the other hand, 35 percent of Democrat respondents showed warm or good feelings for India, as compared to 26 percent Republicans.

However, when it came to neutral feelings, both the partisans showed almost equal rating, with 42 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Republicans.

The country that got most negative feelings from followers of both the parties was North Korea. Its average rating was 21 percent, which falls into the category of “very cold.” Democrats as well as Republicans gave an average rating of 21-21 percent to the Kim Jong-un-led nation.

Russia was the only country that received more cold feelings from Democrats than Republicans. Although overall public showed negative feelings toward Russia with an average of 28 percent, just 37 percent of Republicans exhibited cold feelings toward it, while 54 percent of Democrats acknowledged their negative feelings for the country.

Canada received most positive feelings overall from both partisans, scoring an average rating of 71 on the “feeling thermometer.” It recorded an average rating of 76 percent from Democrats and 65 percent from Republicans on the 0-to-100 scale.

Average ratings for all the 10 countries were: Canada (71), Britain (66), Japan (61), Germany (59), Mexico and India (51), China (42), Russia and Iran (28), North Korea (21).

The results show that overall response toward India is positive but it’s at the minimum level of the scale.