A US-Based Global Business Intel Company’s Survey Results On Indians’ Attitudes Is Intriguing

The latest survey on Indians’ attitude towards international affairs, the results of which were extended credence by Bloomberg uncritically reporting on them, reveals that the contemporary New Cold War context has made Indians increasingly suspicious of the US’ intentions. They’re seemingly concerned that America doesn’t have their country’s best interests in mind, which is sensible considering its unprecedented pressure campaign against India last year.

Morning Consult, a US-based global business intelligence company, just released the intriguing results of its survey on Indians’ attitudes towards international affairs. Titled “India in Between: Modi’s Delicate Dance of Diplomatic Moderation Offers Risks and Rewards”, it was reported upon by Bloomberg (paywalled for some here but available for everyone to read in full here), which tacitly extended credence to its contents and ensured that the largest number of people possible were aware of them.

What was so surprising for many outside observers was that 22% of respondents regarded the US as their country’s “greatest military threat”, which was slightly more than half of those who felt the same way about China at 43% and above the 13% who held that view about both Pakistan and Russia. Another curious tidbit from Morning Consult’s survey was that “Indian adults view Russia as the country most allied to their own, followed closely by the United States”.

Average Westerners might also be shocked to learn that “While a plurality of Indian adults (38%) say Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine, the combined share who blame either the United States (26%) or NATO (18%) exceeds the share who blame Russia by a healthy margin.” If Kiev’s culpability (10%) is added to the mix, then 54% of Indians blame a Western actor of any sort for the conflict, be it the US, NATO, or those two’s Ukrainian proxy, which far exceeds those who solely blame Russia.

As for net popularity toward the US, Russia, and NATO among Indians, the survey shows that this stands at 67%, 47%, and 43% respectively, which will soon be interpreted alongside the preceding results. The last three data points of interest are that 48% of Indians regard Russia as their preferred military supplier compared to 44% for the US, 60% want to continue purchasing Russian oil versus 25% who don’t, and 49% want to retain joint drills with Russia as opposed to 35% who are against this.

The present piece will now explain the results of Morning Consult’s survey in the order that they were shared. Those 22% of Indians who regard the US as their country’s “greatest military threat” might not be fearing an invasion, but are suspicious of Washington’s continued military ties with their Pakistani rival, who some consider to have historically been an American proxy. They might also fear the scenario of the US politicizing its arms shipments to India in order to coerce it into changing its foreign policy.  

Likewise, those 13% who consider Russia to be India’s “greatest military threat” probably don’t fear an invasion from it per se either, but view its arms sales to neighboring China with extreme displeasure. Pakistan’s surprisingly low ranking in this survey is likely attributable to that country practically committing geostrategic suicide in the aftermath of last April’s US-orchestrated post-modern coup against former Prime Minister Khan, which catalyzed cascading economic, financial, and political crises.

Concerning the highest plurality of respondents who regard Russia as an ally, this largely aligns with last year’s complementary survey of Indian youth’s attitudes towards international affairs that was carried out by the prestigious Observer Research Foundation (ORF). It found that the emotional element of their decades-long special and strategic partnership still exerts powerful influence on the perceptions of the new generation, though America is admittedly very popular too, likely owing to socio-economic factors.

Moving along to the Ukrainian Conflict, the majority of Indians who blame a Western actor of any sort for this testifies to the fact that they’re extremely well-informed of the truth about the New Cold War’s top proxy war. Moreover, it can be intuited that those respondents also sincerely appreciate the pragmatic policy of principled neutrality towards that conflict practiced by their country’s multipolar leadership, which resulted in India becoming a globally significant Great Power last year.

As for the net popularity of the US, Russia, and NATO among Indians, the first remains attractive for socio-economic reasons considering its continued sway in these spheres, which far exceeds Russia’s on the global level. The popularity of NATO, meanwhile, should be interpreted simply as a euphemism for the West as a whole and possibly its European portion in particular. With this in mind, Indians’ favorability towards them is likely also due to socio-economic reasons just like it is for the US.

The final three data points about Russia remaining Indians’ preferred military and energy partner reinforce the earlier insight shared above about how most people fully support their multipolar government’s pragmatic stance towards the New Cold War. Those comparatively few who shared negative attitudes towards Russia in these respects are probably under the influence of the US-led West’s Mainstream Media (MSM) and/or are against the ruling BJP in principle no matter what.

In sum, it can be said that the latest survey on Indians’ attitude towards international affairs, the results of which were extended credence by Bloomberg uncritically reporting on them, reveals that the contemporary New Cold War context has made Indians increasingly suspicious of the US’ intentions. They’re seemingly concerned that America doesn’t have their country’s best interests in mind, which is sensible considering its unprecedented pressure campaign against India last year.

After all, they’re not going to forget how the US and its perception management proxies viciously smeared their multipolar government for its pragmatic stance of principled neutrality towards the Ukrainian Conflict, the policy of which ultimately accelerated India’s global rise over the past year. Even so, justified skepticism of the US government’s institutions towards India reasonably doesn’t translate into dislike for the US or the West as a whole since Indians still remain favorable towards both.

Nevertheless, it’s also important to point out that they still remain favorable towards Russia as well, which confirms that the US-led West’s Golden Billion failed to manipulate Indians into turning against their decades-long special and privileged strategic partner. This observation aligns with ORF’s related survey from last year, which leads to the conclusion that this de facto New Cold War bloc’s information warfare campaign against Russia in the world’s largest country was a spectacular failure.