***** Posted on Sun, Mar. 14, 2004 Muslim Americans rallying to get out vote in November By ANN PEPPER Orange County Register
. . . American Arabs and Muslims always vote in large numbers. An estimated 79 percent are registered and 85 percent of those say they vote, according to a 2001 poll taken on behalf of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Political activists believe the power of their community's block vote helped put George Bush in the White House four years ago. Bush won their votes overwhelmingly in Florida, where he claimed the presidency with less than a 600-vote margin.
The community cast those ballots on the advice of trusted voices such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Word spread to voters over the Internet, at Islamic centers and through popular, ethnic newspapers such as Al-Watan and Arab World in Anaheim, Calif., and An-Nahar in Whittier, Calif.
"It was what he said, particularly opposing the use of secret evidence, plus, frankly, Gore ignored us," said Omar Zaki, who oversees politics for CAIR in Anaheim.
This time, their votes won't be won as easily, rank-and-file Muslim voters say. They are grasping for a better understanding of issues and candidates and a stronger say in who they will support.
"We want to create a model community with 100 percent voter registration," said Aslam Abdullah, a political adviser and founder of the newly minted Muslim Electorate Council of America. "That's what we are aiming for. We are doing the extensive work needed to bring in as many voters as possible."
It's been months now since Orange County, Calif., Muslims could go to a community event or even some private parties without running into someone with a voter registration form in hand.
Registration tables pop up outside Little Gaza restaurants along Brookhurst Street. Community members are volunteering as poll workers. Imams preach on voting.
Last month, about 300 Arab and Muslim voters, including Wareh and Nuru Nuru, a Garden Grove, Calif., cab driver, packed a political forum in Buena Park, Calif., where they cheered any candidate who took a strong stand on civil rights or spoke in favor of a just solution for Palestine.
"As an American and as a Muslim we have to worry about what is going on," said Nuru, 45, who brought his son, Nader, 15, to the forum. "America is a free country, but our freedom is taken by Sept. 11 and we have to protest for all Americans."
Around the edges of the room that night, community volunteers - some in hijabs - bent over voting machines, demonstrating how to use them. Candidates handed out campaign leaflets and Green Party members offered to register voters. Ralph Nader even phoned in a speech announcing his hours-old candidacy for president. . . .
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/8172873.htm> *****
***** A recent poll of Arab-American voters in four key states has some bad news for both President Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry. The poll shows that the percentage of Arab-Americans who believe that President Bush deserves to be re-elected is a low 28 percent. When matched up against John Kerry, Bush loses 54 percent to 30 percent.The bad news for Sen. Kerry is that when Ralph Nader's name is entered into the mix, the numbers change to 43 percent for Kerry, 27 percent for Bush, and 20 percent for Nader.
The poll in question was the first in a series of tracking polls that Zogby International of New York is conducting for the Arab American Institute. This first poll, conducted in the last few days of February 2004, surveyed 501 likely Arab-American voters living in four key electoral states: Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. (The poll has a margin of error of +/-4.5 percent.)
These four states were chosen because they will be among those to be hotly contested in the 2004 election and because they are also home to sizeable Arab-American populations. Together they include more than 1.1 million Arab-Americans.
Given the propensity of Arab-Americans to vote in somewhat larger numbers than the average population, Arab-Americans in these four states represent a likely voter turnout of more than 510,000 voters. The Arab-American vote equals more than five percent of the overall vote in Michigan, two percent in Florida, just under two percent in Ohio and more than 1.5 percent in Pennsylvania. . . .
If the election were held today, Kerry would win the Arab-American vote by a margin of 54 percent to 30 percent. In this match-up Kerry wins the support of virtually all of sub-groups of Arab-American voters. He beats President Bush among native-born Arab-Americans and immigrants and among all the major religious groupings (Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Muslims.) The problem for Sen. Kerry is that when Ralph Nader enters the race, he cuts significantly into Kerry's lead over Bush, reducing Kerry's total to 43 percent.
Here's what happens. One-half of all Nader's voters come right out of Kerry's column. Only one of six Nader voters come from President Bush. The rest are those Arab-Americans who indicated no preference between Bush and Kerry in the initial match-up.
Who are these Nader voters? It appears from the polling, that Nader voters are educated, high intensity issue voters. Three-fourths of Nader voters are native born Arab-Americans and three-fourths are college educated. Two-thirds of those who support Nader are Arab-American women. Almost 40 percent are Muslim Arab-Americans while another 30 percent are Orthodox Christians.Eighty percent of those who say they will vote for Nader say the Arab-Israeli conflict is very important in determining their vote. And a higher than average 80 percent give President Bush a poor rating on most of the issues included in the poll. . . .
(James J. Zogby, "Bush Losing Support of Arab-American Voters," Friday, March 19, 2004, <http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20040319060727526> ***** -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
