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AAI in the News

Muslim and Arab Voters: A Demographic Shift

By Lorraine Ali, Tamara Lipper, and Mehammed Mack
Newsweek
Posted on Monday October 25, 2004

When George W. Bush addressed issues like profiling with a Dearborn, Mich., crowd in 2000, he became the first presidential candidate to openly woo the Arab-American and Muslim vote. Exit polls showed it paid off: he won 45 percent of the Arab vote nationwide and swept 70 percent of the Muslim vote. So why isn’t he aggressively courting the estimated 3 million Arab-Americans or the 5 million to 7 million U.S. Muslims now? “The dissatisfaction among these communities on key issues is too great,” says James Zogby of the Arab American Institute. “Those concerned about Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or their civil liberties are not going to vote for him.”

The detainment of thousands of Arabs and Muslims under the Patriot Act, the bloodshed in Baghdad and Bush’s support of Ariel Sharon have eroded his credibility among a group that could be a real factor in this tight race. A Zogby poll of Arab voters in four swing states shows John Kerry leading Bush 49 to 32 percent, while a Council on American-Islamic Relations poll finds that only 3 percent of U.S. Muslims plan on voting for Bush. Hassan Essayli, an Arab-American and Republican who voted for Bush in ‘00, feels “betrayed.” Bush spokesman Scott Stanzel says the campaign was “gratified” to have these groups’ backing in 2000 and that it’s “working to maintain and build on that support.”