Muslims 'Key' to US Elections

By Jeff Phillips in Washington

Reprinted with permission from BBC News on the Web, Tuesday, 29 August, 2000.

Permission obtained covering republication/translation of the text by U.S. Embassy Public Affairs/press outside of the United States.

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Survey facts

• 46.9% of Muslim Americans plan to vote Democrat
• 16.1% plan to vote for Republican
• 77.2% want UN sanctions against Iraq dropped
• 88.7% want an independent Palestinian state

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A leading American polling organisation, Zogby International, says that American Muslims are fast becoming a swing factor in determining the outcome of November's presidential elections in some key states.

A number of Muslim American groups have started a campaign to register eligible Muslim voters in an attempt to achieve maximum impact on the November elections.

There are just over six million Muslims in the United States, up to about one million of whom are likely to vote in November.

Too close to call

This may seem insignificant compared with the numbers of other ethnic and religious constituencies.

But Muslims are overwhelmingly concentrated in a number of key states - New York, New Jersey, Ohio, California and Illinois - which are currently too close to call between the Republican and Democratic parties and are likely to determine the outcome of the election.

The American Muslim Council, which helped carry out the poll, said it was working with a number of other Muslim groups to try to register as many Muslim voters as possible.

Muslims welcomed the Democrats' choice of Joe Lieberman

Voters will also be sent a scorecard setting out the positions of the rival parties on issues important to Muslims.

Left and right

The Council will not, however, endorse a party, although a political group affiliated to the Council, Muslims for a Better America, says it will.

The poll shows that Muslims are more likely to vote Democrat than Republican, although the Muslim Council says it has problems with both parties.

The poll showed that as a religious constituency, Muslims tended to be conservative in their views, strongly against abortion and gay rights, for example, and in favour of the death penalty.

As an ethnic urban community, however, Muslims tend to the left, favouring public spending on health and social welfare programmes and in favour of the minimum wage.

The Council said it welcomed the selection of Senator Joe Lieberman as vice-presidential candidate for the Democrats as the first Jewish candidate for the office, and said that it would help make possible the election of a Muslim in the future.