Exit polls show Muslims voted in bloc for Bush

An exit poll showed that 72 percent of American Muslims voted for Bush and 19 percent for Nader

- As America restlessly awaits the announcement of the next president of the United States, American Muslim groups have already determined the impact American Muslim voters have had on the election. According to two separate exit polls, American Muslims cast votes overwhelmingly for George W. Bush.

An exit poll released on Friday conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations reveals that 72 percent of American Muslims voted for Bush and nineteen percent voted for Ralph Nader. Eight percent of respondents said they supported Al Gore, which is a drop from 24 percent in a previous poll conducted in September. Muslims from the states of California, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Texas, and New Jersey responded to the poll that was conducted through hand distribution, email, and fax.

The American Muslim Alliance conducted a post-election telephone survey and found that more than 80 percent of Muslim Americans cast ballots for Bush and 10 percent voted for Nader. In an exit poll of Florida Muslims, AMA found that 91 percent of those polled had voted for Bush. Approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in the state of Florida of which 60,000 are eligible voters.

"With the slim margin favoring Bush in Florida, Muslim voters could have a hand in picking the next president," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad. Florida was ranked number eight in terms of exit poll responses.

If Bush becomes the next president of the United States, the Texas governor can thank American Muslims for turning out in large numbers and casting their vote overwhelmingly in his favor. The CAIR survey of 1,774 Muslim voters indicated that more than 70 percent of Muslim voters followed the endorsement of Bush by the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council PAC. On October 23, the AMPCC-PAC, a coalition of four major Muslim political organizations, announced their endorsement of Bush citing his outreach to the Muslim community and his stand on the issue of secret evidence in INS deportation hearings. Ninety-four percent of the voters surveyed said they had heard about the endorsement and eighty-five percent said the endorsement was either the major factor or one of the factors that influenced their choice of candidates.

"Muslim voters clearly followed the lead of Islamic political groups in voting for George Bush. This signals that a Muslim voting bloc must be taken into consideration in future elections," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

This election also showed that candidates who engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric in their campaigns were defeated. The most notorious use of anti-Muslim bigotry as a political tactic was demonstrated in the New York Senate Race. Republican Senate candidate Rick Lazio's below the belt tactics to win a seat in the Senate included conducting a "deceptively-worded" phone campaign trying to link Hillary Rodham Clinton, American Muslim organizations and individual Muslim contributors to the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. Lazio lost to Mrs. Clinton by a margin of 12 percent. The New York Times called Lazio’s tactics "desperate" and "extreme" and analysts believe Lazio's Muslim bashing cost him the election. American Muslim leaders hope Lazio's defeat has sent a loud message to future candidates that a campaign tactic that includes Muslim racism does not ensure a win in an election.

In Georgia, Republican congressional candidate Sunny Warren mirrored Lazio's tactics and launched bigoted attacks against Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) alleging that McKinney was tied to those involved in the attack on the USS Cole. A Warren fundraising letter stated: "Cynthia McKinney is dead wrong on Middle East policy and best friend of Saddam Hussein...Cynthia McKinney's team is Iraq, Hamas, Yasser Arafat, and the Arab Muslim Council." McKinney defeated Warren by a 20 percent margin.

"Political candidates should take note that the American people reject the use of religious and ethnic stereotyping as a campaign tactic," said Awad.

This year approximately 700 Muslim Americans ran for various local, state and federal offices. According to the American Muslim Alliance, 152 were elected to local and state offices with ninety-two American Muslims elected from the state of Texas. It is an increase from the 1996 elections, where an estimated 100 Muslims won public office. American Muslims were elected as members of precinct committees, delegates to Democratic and Republican Party conventions, city councils, state assemblies, state senates, and judgeships. Larry Shaw, the highest-ranking elected Muslim in America, was re-elected as state senator unopposed in North Carolina.

The American Muslim community took extra efforts to encourage Muslims to take part in the political process. CAIR distributed the American Muslim Voter Registration Guide as part of a nationwide campaign effort to get American Muslims to vote. On September 15, CAIR held American Muslim Voter Registration Day to encourage Muslims to register to vote and get involved in the American political process. Voter registration tables were set up at mosques and Islamic centers across the United States.

Both the AMA and CAIR polls show that Muslim voter turn out was higher than the national average. Thirty-six percent of Muslim respondents to the CAIR poll and 40 percent from the AMA survey said they were first-time voters.

"This poll, following as it does the first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate, is a key indicator of future American Muslim political participation," said Awad.

Please don't flame me for this. I just happened to come across it while doing a 'net search, & I thought it was interesting. I certainly disagree with what they say about Lazio & Warren. What I was actually trying to do was find a bumper sticker which said something about being glad I voted for Bush!

Were Calypso Louie's gang polled too or just the white muslims polled in this bit? I'd have thought there were too many black muslims to make this mathematically possible what with Gore's 90+% fraction of the black vote.

This is why the liberal media is flaming the fires of the racial profiling issue. They are trying to sway Muslims to the dark side via making them feel like victims of racial hatred. Anything that can be exploited by the liberal race baiters will be, especially if it hurts America.

It's not surprising. The Bush family was a friend to Kuwait and to Saudi Arabia, and to Afghanistan as well. Bush didn't start this war. (Unlike Clinton, who started several, for no other reason than to Wag the Dog.)

But things have changed since last year. Bush didn't start this war, but he will end it, I trust.

No, Muslims like a lot of the social policies regarding morality of the Republican Party....irony is that they share many of the beliefs regarding social and moral issues that many evangelical Christians on FR promote, yet it seems the evangelical Christians have the most rabid hatred of them.

No surprise at all that Muslims supported Bush....both Dems and Republicans support Israel so that doens't affect the vote..and the only Jew on the ballot was on the Democratic side.

...yet it seems the evangelical Christians have the most rabid hatred of them.

Excuse me?

Stating that Muslims like to lie is not hating them, it's just stating a fact. After all they are following the father of lies (Satan) who started their religion.

Hate them?
What world are YOU living on. We're feeding them and welcoming to our great country in droves and sending numerous missionaries to convert them, yet somehow you equate this with hate.

Your logic is not sound, maybe you just hate Christians by uttering such a damnable lie.

No surprise at all that Muslims supported Bush....both Dems and Republicans support Israel so that doens't affect the vote..and the only Jew on the ballot was on the Democratic side.

Well I know a Arab Muslim immigrant who has lived in America for over 30 years who is a rabid Democrat. I have no doubt that he voted for Gore in 2000 despite his running mate being a Jew.

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