As the US presidential election approaches, the race to draw voters has intensified. Among the many totally different constituencies the Democrats and Republicans are battling over, there may be one which stands out: the Muslim neighborhood.
Though Muslims represent roughly 1 p.c of the American inhabitants, they’re an necessary voting bloc as a result of they’re concentrated in swing states, which are sometimes narrowly received in elections.
On this election cycle, the Muslim neighborhood appears extra united than ever over a single political problem: the warfare in Gaza. Any candidate hoping to win over massive segments of Muslim voters must deal with neighborhood calls for for an finish to the bloodshed in Palestine.
That is in line with a brand new study revealed by the Institute for Social Coverage and Understanding (ISPU) in partnership with Emgage and Change Analysis. It’s based mostly on a survey performed in late June and early July targeted on how Muslims in three swing states – Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan – intend to vote within the 2024 presidential election.
What we discovered is that President Joe Biden’s dealing with of the warfare in Gaza has turned Muslims, who in 2020 have been a few of his greatest supporters, into his sharpest detractors.
In 2020, about 65 p.c of Muslim voters in these states confirmed as much as solid their ballots for Biden. This assist was important to his electoral victory as a result of he received key swing states by small margins. He received Georgia by simply 12,000 votes, a state the place greater than 61,000 Muslims voted, and Pennsylvania by 81,000 votes, the place 125,000 Muslims voted.
Against this, in our survey, performed earlier than Biden dropped out of the presidential race, solely 12 p.c of respondents stated they’d vote for him, marking a dramatic drop in assist not seen amongst every other group studied. Whereas this impacts the presidential race, it has additionally manifested in a broader disillusionment with the institution of the Democratic Get together.
The warfare on Gaza has unified Muslim voters in a approach that no different problem has in current reminiscence. In accordance with the 2020 American Muslim Ballot performed by ISPU, healthcare (19 p.c), the financial system (14 p.c) and social justice (13 p.c) have been the highest voting points for Muslim voters.
Examine that with 2024: Throughout the partisan spectrum, the highest precedence of Muslim voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the warfare in Gaza (61 p.c), adopted by holding the US out of international wars (22 p.c).
Discount of army assist to Israel additionally garnered the assist of the overwhelming majority of Muslim voters in our research, who, no matter partisan sentiments, all overwhelmingly see this coverage as a cause to vote for a candidate. Whereas a warfare abroad could appear removed from the day by day considerations of American Muslim voters, many see the US function – offering unconditional assist and diplomatic cowl to Israel – as complicity within the continued oppression of Palestinians.
The significance of the warfare in Gaza for Muslim voters was made clear months earlier than we performed our survey. The Muslim neighborhood performed a number one function within the Uncommitted Nationwide Motion, which urged Democratic voters to vote “uncommitted” in presidential primaries of their states. The initiative managed to get greater than 700,000 Democrats to take action, making clear their demand for a change within the Biden administration’s tone and coverage on Israel and Palestine.
This dramatic Muslim migration away from Biden will not be a wholesale leap to the opposite facet of the aisle, nevertheless. Muslim assist for Trump inched up from 18 p.c in 2020 to 22 p.c in 2024 in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Overwhelmingly, former Muslim supporters of Biden are shifting to 3rd events or are nonetheless undecided. Our research discovered that just about a 3rd of Muslim voters will both vote a third-party candidate (27 p.c) or write in a candidate (3 p.c). About 17 p.c of Muslims stated they’ve but to resolve on a candidate in contrast with 6 p.c of most of the people.
This implies there may be nonetheless room and time for candidates to win over this important constituency. And it appears they’re attempting.
Not solely has Biden pulled out of the race, however Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has signalled she is distancing herself from his unflinching assist for Israel’s warfare on Gaza. In July, the vice chairman didn’t attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s deal with to Congress, stated she is not going to be silent concerning the struggling in Gaza and made clear her assist for a ceasefire.
In August, she picked as her operating mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who’s extensively thought to be extra sympathetic to the Palestinian trigger than short-listed Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. This 12 months, Walz praised uncommitted voters in Minnesota, calling them “civically engaged” and saying, “This problem is a humanitarian disaster. They’ve each proper to be heard.”
And whereas Muslims have been cautiously optimistic at finest, the Harris marketing campaign’s refusal to permit a Palestinian American to talk on the Democratic Nationwide Conference final week has soured this hope.
Third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West have each been vocal of their assist for the individuals of Gaza. West selected Melina Abdullah, a Black Muslim girl as his operating mate. Stein selected Muslim activist and tutorial Rudolph “Butch” Ware.
Even Republican candidate Donald Trump’s marketing campaign is reaching out to Arab American voters – a shock given the anti-Muslim rhetoric he used when campaigning in 2016. Folks related together with his marketing campaign have been attempting to woo Arab voters in swing states. Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, married the son of a Lebanese American businessman, Massad Boulous, who has been attempting to influence Arabs in Michigan to vote for the previous president because of the present administration’s failed coverage in Gaza.
The Muslim neighborhood’s mobilisation on Palestine has come at a heavy value for a lot of. The Council on American Islamic Relations reported an unprecedented spike in incidents of bias: a 56 p.c improve in stories of Islamophobia in 2023. Anti-Palestinian racism has additionally skyrocketed, a worrying development mirrored within the shooting of three Palestinian college students in Vermont who have been sporting the keffiyeh scarf. 1000’s – lots of them Muslim college students – have been arrested at campus protests, and plenty of have been threatened with expulsion or confronted prison prices for his or her pro-Palestinian activism at schools and universities throughout the US.
And but even with the implications of taking a public stance on Palestine, Muslim voters seem like undeterred this time round. Solidarity with the individuals of Gaza has emerged as the one most necessary problem for American Muslim voters, a bunch no candidate can afford to disregard.
The views expressed on this article are the authors’ personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
