[alephnerd]

My point about Kern and SJV was about how Desi Americans are a swing vote, not the white collar portion.

That said I do agree with you to a certain extent that pre-Tech immigration absolutely was a thing (and a major factor in the Punjabi community across western US).

> more similar to Guyana. (My great grandfather came during that 1920s era but jumped ship in NYC instead

Oh dang, that's pretty wild! I thought most immigration to Guyana from South Asia during that era was primarily from Eastern UP, Bihar, and West Bengal, not Sindh/Punjab.

[selimthegrim]

Yes but that was the 1920s ethnic pattern to USA too, see Bald’s book. Most of my great grandfather’s NYC compatriots would have been from the areas you mentioned and he was the exception (although his family was originally decades before from Bareilly so it kind of proves the rule). Guyana was a blue collar thing like you intuited.