Kamala Harris, whose mother emigrated from India, swiftly dented the Trump campaign's unprecedented Republican efforts to woo Indian Americans.

The daughter of an Indian mother, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is a strong envoy to Indian Americans, one of the fastest growing groups in America that votes at high rates.

Donald Trump has worked for years to make inroads with Indian Americans in ways Republican presidential candidates never have — recruiting volunteers at Indian grocery stores, holding events in five Indian languages and paying for targeted digital ads.

Traditionally, Indian Americans have voted for Democrats at a higher rate than other Asians — Trump garnered just 16 percent of the Indian American vote in 2016 — but polling has shown rising Indian American support for the president.

Now, 28 percent of Indian Americans support Trump, though 68 percent support Biden, according to the latest Asian American Voter survey released Tuesday.

“Kamala Harris has been brought in as a vice presidential nominee to attract not just African American votes but to stop the mass exodus of the Indian American Democrats towards President Trump in the battleground states, where for the first time Indian American votes will make a big difference,” said Al Mason, who leads an effort to raise money for Trump from Indian Americans.

And some Indian Americans also say they believe Harris identifies herself more as an African American woman than as an Indian American woman, even though her Senate biography identifies her both as African American and South Asian American.

“There is definitely going to be splitting of votes as some Indian Americans will have a tough decision to make, as their loyalty may be towards a so-called candidate of Indian heritage or a candidate of pro-Indian stance as President Trump,” said Sampat Shivangi, an Indian American physician from Mississippi who was a Trump delegate at the Republican National Convention.

Indian American groups say their community’s support will be critical for states that both Trump and Biden are targeting through the Rust Belt and Southwest.

Younger Indian Americans born in the United States tend to be more liberal, so Trump has tried to appeal to an older generation of Indian Americans who legally emigrated to the United States for work or school, still follow Indian politics and support populist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

We have great support from Prime Minister Modi,” Trump said at a recent news conference.

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands after a joint statement in New Delhi, India, on Feb.

Already, 56 percent of Indian American registered voters say they had been contacted by the Democratic Party in the past year, while 48 percent said they had been contacted by the Republican Party, according to the Asian American Voter survey

Republicans, including Trump, have been trying for years — with limited success — to make inroads with Indian Americans

Yet on Election Day, Trump won roughly the same percent of the Indian American vote as 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney

By 2018, 30 percent of Indian Americans had a favorable impression of Trump compared with 68 percent for Biden, according to the Asian American Voters Survey

Mason, of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, predicted more than 65 percent of Indian Americans in 2020 battleground states who previously voted for Democrats will support Trump

Instead, they say, Trump is more likely to increase his Indian American support by 5 to 10 percentage points

"It was always going to be an uphill climb for the Trump campaign to make significant inroads with the Indian American population,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political science professor at the University of California, Riverside, who directs the Asian American Voters Survey