Poll: Arab-Americans Would Pick Kerry Over Bush (Kerry 45%, Bush 28%, Nader 14%)

Reuters ^ | 4.28.04

[ambrose]

Arab-Americans Would Pick Kerry Over Bush -Poll Wed Apr 28, 2004 03:45 PM ET

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arab-Americans in four battleground U.S. states would choose Democrat John Kerry by a wide margin if the presidential election were held now, a shift from their strong support of George W. Bush in 2000, a new poll showed on Wednesday.

The tracking poll, released by the Arab American Institute, looked at Arab-Americans in Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, all expected to be hard-fought contests in this year's campaign.

Though there are only about 510,000 likely Arab-American voters in the states, the race could be close enough that even relatively small numbers could make a difference, John Zogby, who conducted the poll for the institute, said.

"Anything that moves hundreds or even thousands of votes in any of these battleground states overall can have a seismic impact on the election," Zogby said.

Forty-nine percent of Arab-Americans in these states would vote for Kerry, the presumed Democratic nominee, in a two-way race, while only 30 percent would pick Republican President Bush, and 21 percent said they would vote for someone else or were unsure, the poll found.

Kerry's numbers were down 5 points from a February tracking poll of this population, while Bush stayed the same.

When consumer advocate Ralph Nader was added to the mix, 28 percent said they would vote for Bush, 45 percent for Kerry, 14 percent for Nader, an Arab-American. Fourteen percent said they would vote for someone else or were unsure.

"Whatever the White House calculation is, they're not doing so well among Arab-American voters in these four states," said James Zogby, the institute's president and a member of the Democratic National Committee. The pollster is his brother.

The most important issue among those polled was the economy, and only 27 percent said Bush would do the best job there, while 44 percent picked Kerry.

Among the other nine top issues, Kerry got higher marks than Bush in all but one category, the handling of terrorism and national security, where 39 percent said Bush would do the best job, compared to 30 percent for Kerry.

On the divisive issue of Israel and the Palestinians, 22 percent said they had more confidence in Kerry, 16 percent picked Bush and 48 percent said neither. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

John Zogby said Arab-Americans account for just over 1 percent of likely U.S. voters, compared with American Jews, who account for 4 percent and have long been courted by presidential candidates.

Zogby International found in an April 15 poll that likely Jewish voters solidly favored Kerry, with 66 percent picking him in a three-way race; 22 percent chose Bush, 3 percent picked Nader and 9 percent were unsure. That poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore won Michigan and Pennsylvania by just over than 200,000 votes in each state, while Bush won Ohio by 165,000 and the two tied in Florida.

[Maceman]

What else needs to be said?

[Taquito]

Al-Queda sympathizers prefer Kerry by wide margins.

[ApesForEvolution]

Man, it's a good thing we let so many in..../sarcasm.

[oceanview]

the sad part - the Dems now get both the Muslim and Jewish votes in the US, although Bush will likley do far better then the 19% of Jewish voters he got in 2000.

[ApesForEvolution]

Oh, puhleeze....It's a Zogby poll.

He's an islamocommiefascistRAT tool.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Al-Queda sympathizers prefer Kerry by wide margins.

So why did these Al-Queda sympathisers prefer Bush to Gore?

[Republican Red]

the two tied in Florida

huh??? I didn't know it ended in a tie. No one won?

[Taquito]

Because they became Al-Queda sympathizers after September 11th.

[TheBattman]

Exactly - if those who are the closest related to our primary enemy at this time are in favor of Kerry - that's almost as good a reason to vote for anyone else as being endorsed by the Communist Party....which Kerry also will be supported by.

[CzarNicky]

GO Ralph GO

[boxerblues]

Kerry was in Cleveland yesterday, nobody showed up to support him but there was 2 freepers who did show up to show their support for Bush
Notice his bus nobody near it!

[Sangria]

What kind of stupid article is this?

[Patrick1]

"Bush is way behind in Al Qaeda cells in the U.S. In a close election this could be a critical point. He also is not doing well among Communists"....John Zogby opined.

[ApesForEvolution]

You forgot about Sept. 11, 2001, the event that emboldened the islamocommiefascistRATs in America...amongst us, plotting against us in our own neighborhoods, inside the 'mosques'.

[Diogenesis]

[Peach]

Nothing else needs to be said.

That Arabs prefer Kerry over Bush tells me everything I need to know about the president and the metrosexual gigolo.

[DustyMoment]

And this is a surprise to whom?

[Jim_Curtis]

I never bought the claim that arabs backed Bush in 2000. It was likely false polling to influence the Jewish vote to go against Republicans.

I do believe that David Bonoir was a congressman from the most arab community in the US...nuff said.