http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews <http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=20 06-10-24T184250Z_01_N24229395_RTRUKOC_0_US-MUSLIMS.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C 1_%5BFeed%5D-7> &storyID=2006-10-24T184250Z_01_N24229395_RTRUKOC_0_US-MUSLIMS.xml&WTmodLoc=U SNewsHome_C1_%5BFeed%5D-7
Poll shows Muslims in U.S. lean to Democrats By Deborah Charles WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More American Muslims are now supporting the Democratic Party but their votes should not be taken for granted, an Islamic civil rights group said on Tuesday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, released a poll of 1,000 registered Muslim voters in the United States it said showed the community has changed a great deal since supporting Republicans in 2000. The poll found 42 percent of respondents were Democrats and 17 percent Republican, while some 28 percent had no party affiliation, said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "It shows that Muslim community votes should not be taken for granted," said Awad, adding: "There's a shift in their political orientation." The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Estimates of the number of Muslim Americans vary between 3 million and 7 million. Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed said they vote regularly. In 2000, American Muslims endorsed and voted for Republican candidate George W. Bush, but they switched to support the Democrats in 2004 to protest what was seen as anti-Muslim policies by the Bush administration. CAIR research director Mohamed Nimer said the survey showed American Muslims were most concerned about civil liberties -- an issue that has dominated the community since the September 11 attacks carried out by Muslim extremists -- and education. Foreign policy issues followed closely behind, it showed. "There is a tremendous opposition to the Bush administration policies," Nimer said, citing the 55 percent of respondents who felt the war on terror has become a war on Islam. Eighty-eight percent believed the Iraq war was not worthwhile for the United States and 90 percent were against using military means to spread democracy around the world. The survey also showed about 43 percent of those questioned felt they had been discriminated against or been the subject of racial profiling. Since the September 11 attacks, news of domestic wiretapping, monitoring of mosques, immigration crackdowns, public support for racial profiling and bans on some Muslim scholars visiting the United States made many Muslim Americans feel like targets of racism. CAIR officials said Muslim political groups had not yet decided to endorse a party for the upcoming November 7 elections. But they have launched an aggressive effort in Muslim communities across the country to register voters, and then plan on getting people to actually vote. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
