US Presidential elections: Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump – What this means for India

From private email scandals, building walls, to misogynistic ‘locker room talks’, to veterans being called weak, and the truly powerful speech by First Lady Michelle Obama, the 2016 US Presidential elections will be memorable for a plethora of reasons.

But what is interesting is that this year a historic number of American citizens have registered to vote. A report in the New York Magazine suggests that over 200 million people are now registered to vote. It said this is 50 million more than those registered eight years ago, and more than 70-odd million when compared to the late 90s. As of 1996, there weren’t even 200 million American citizens of voting age!

Of these 42.6 percent were registered Democrats, 29 percent as Republicans and 0.6 percent as independent. Also, interestingly, 70 Nobel winners endorsed Hillary Clinton for President in an open letter.

These group of Nobel Laureates, who consist of distinguished members of scientific discipline, believe that Hillary is most likely to support advances in policies that enable growth of science and technology.

It is also interesting to note that even President Barack Obama has been strongly speaking against Donald Trump and in a recent video asked him 'to stop whining.'

But how does who comes to in the White House on the noon of January 20, 2017, matter to India?

1. Whoever steps into the White House will significantly impact trade relations. A report in Huffington Post suggests that India currently will be less affected by who becomes President, because the relations between the two countries have been significantly lesser than Russia and China. Also, Hillary has a history good Indian-American runs as an experience foreign policy hand.
2. The US General-Council in Kolkata also said that outcome of the Presidential elections in US will not impact Indo-US relations.
3. A report by World Bank suggests that India will be the fastest growing economy in the world for the next three years and has the potential to surpass China. India, in fact, is doing fine as it is.
4. The Indo-China relationship has significantly improved since the Nuclear Deal.
5. While stock markets are impossible to predict, from previous data we can decipher that stock prices rise faster under Democratic presidents than Republican ones.

Currently, post Trump's anti-immigration policy, misogynistic and anti-Islamic sentiments have made most hope and root for Hillary Clinton.