The Indian-Americans account for just one percent of the United States’ population, however, they have been increasingly getting active in domestic politics. 

After the end of the first Presidential Debate 2020, the Indian-American supporters of President Donald Trump said the Republican leader “sealed the deal” at the election debate while the community members supporting his Democratic challenger Joe Biden asserted that the former vice-president made a “successful case” to occupy the White House for the next four year.

Indian Americans organised watch parties, mostly virtual, for the first of the three presidential debates between Trump and Biden. President Trump and Biden began the debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday with heated exchanges over health care, coronavirus and future of the Supreme Court.

“President Trump seals the deal for his re-election, crushing Biden at the debate. Game over,” commented Al Mason, co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee.

An Indo-American attorney from California Harmeet K Dhillon slammed debate moderator Chris Wallace, a popular Fox news anchor, for allegedly taking sides.

“Chris Wallace is a disgrace. Republicans need to stop allowing the slanted media to have any role in debates in future years,” tweeted Dhillon, co-chair of Lawyers for Trump and co-chair of Sikhs for Trump.

On the other hand, Biden’s supporters said that during the debate the former vice-president successfully proved the plot that Trump is thoroughly undeserving of another four years.

“The choice in this election could not be any clearer,” Neha Dewan, national director of South Asians for Biden, said.

“In the debate, we saw two very different men with polar opposite temperaments and divergent governing philosophies. We saw Joe Biden a statesman on the debate stage and what a president looks like. Who was, calm, steady, strong, resilient. …. Biden proved that he has what it takes to lead us out of the mess Trump has made,” said Ajay Jain Bhutoria, National Finance Committee member, Biden for President 2020.

Expectedly, Trump’s faithful supporters disagreed. “Biden’s few major flaws were exposed as he refused to answer the law and order and Portland protests. He won’t answer Supreme Court judge he won’t answer,” said Raj Bhayani, founder of SuperPAC American4Hindu.

“President Trump was forthright in explaining his achievements in his close to four years term in appointing 300 Federal judges and possibly appointing three Supreme Court judges, a historic opportunity,” remarked Sampat Shivangi, a member of the Indian Voices for Trump.

It was debate marred by the two leaders frequently interrupting each other with irked interjections, crowned by Biden eventually snapping at Trump “Will you shut up, man?”

This came following the President badgering Biden over his refusal to comment on whether he would try to expand the Supreme Court in retaliation if Trump’s high court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Tonight’s presidential debate was without much of decor but contentious as expected with angry exchanges including not so polite words by Biden ‘will you shut up man’,” he said.

“One of the most entertaining and combative sessions and Trump came in fully charged up and Biden was defending – on racial issues, law and order, enforcement and economy – Trump was a winner,” said Sridhar Chityala.

“The Green New Deal – what a mess by Biden. He has made a compelling case on ballot voter fraud and no response from Biden,” he said.

Harini Krishnan, a California Co-State Director for South Asians for Biden and organiser of a virtual debate watch event, noted that Trump failed to make a case for his re-election.

“Vice-president Biden spoke directly to the American people tonight about issues that are impacting us most, while President Trump’s message to America was essentially that he would be a rubber stamp for Mitch McConnell’s judges. Americans everywhere are seeking competency, normalcy, and decency in their leadership, and Vice President Biden showed he can deliver that if he is elected along with Senator Harris,” said Krishnan.

“It was particularly galling that the president of the United States could not unequivocally condemn white supremacy when presented with the opportunity to do so, and in fact, appeared to call for violence,” said Deepa Sharma, Communications Co-Chair for South Asians for Biden.

“With our community experiencing a significant uptick in violence and hate incidents, South Asians all across America reject President Trump’s unacceptable views, and will make that known at the ballot box this November,” she said.

Trump’s supporter Mukesh Modi said that the president should look right into the camera and talk so it should feel that he is addressing to American citizens. “As per my opinion trump did better as he was debating with two democratic Biden and Chris,” he said.

“Biden lied every sentence. Biden dropped out of his first presidency because of plagiarism,” alleged Deepak Nandi, a Trump supporter.