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Posted on 08/13/2004 8:31:18 PM PDT by GulliverSwift
Arab Americans who backed George W. Bush in 2000 by a margin of 2-to-1 are now saying they'll vote for John Kerry, recent polls show.
According to a July Zogby poll in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania 54 percent of Arab-Americans now support Kerry, while only 24 percent favored Bush, and 21 percent are either undecided or backing Nader. It also showed that even the 30 percent who described themselves as Republicans say that it is "time for someone new."
Speaking about the apparent turnabout pollster John Zogby told the Boston Globe "It's a complete 180-degree turn."
If valid, the dramatic shift is bad news for President Bush - the 3.5 Arab-Americans constitute a huge voting bloc which can throw an election to a candidate it favors. In states such as Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, each with more than 100,000 Arab-Americans, voters their votes be decisive experts told the Globe.
According to the Globe there are about 270,000 Arab-Americans in Florida, 400,000 in Michigan, 160,000 in Ohio, and 150,000 in Pennsylvania. But some experts said their support for Kerry appears soft, because both Kerry and Bush have taken strong pro-Israel positions and Kerry voted for the Patriot Act which angers Arab-Americans.. And when Ralph Nader is added to the picture, the Arab-American vote could be up for grabs.
Nader, a Lebanese-American, wants the United States to pull out of Iraq and backs a repeal of the Patriot Act that many Arab-Americans insist has been used by the administration to infringe upon their rights.
"It's a dilemma," Taleb Salhab, coordinator of the Florida Arab American Leadership Council and a Kerry supporter told the Globe. "We have worked diligently with the Kerry campaign to get them to address some of these concerns, but the Nader factor remains an issue in our community. People are really, really fired up about this election," Salhab, added. "I think Florida will play a critical role as it did the last time. I am confident our community will turn out to vote in record numbers."
Peter Camejo, Nader's running-mate, told the Globe, "The Muslim Arab community is very anti-Bush and is going to Kerry, but it's also one area where Nader is getting a lot of support."
Moreover, Kerry's backing of Israel over the Palestinian Authority, and his statement that he would have still voted for the war in Iraq even if he had known at the time that Saddam Hussein had no unconventional weapons or ties to the Sept. 11 attacks has upset many Arab-Americans. And while he says he supports amending the Patriot Act which the Globe notes is widely condemned by Arab-Americans, he was among a majority of lawmakers who voted for it in October 2001.
"Our community has more confidence in Kerry, but half of them are not confident with either," James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, a Kerry supporter and the pollster's brother told the Globe.
Said Nader in an interview with the Globe, "If they shift from Bush to Kerry, all they are getting is a new suit of clothes. They have the same policies on Iraq, Israel-Palestine, and the Patriot Act, which are near and dear to them.
"The only other thing they are getting different is a new attorney general. But there is no guarantee. Profiling Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans and using secret evidence in immigration cases - they did a lot of those things before 9/11."
Marwan Burgan, a Democratic delegate from Virginia, said that ending John Ashcroft's tenure as attorney general would be welcome to Arab-Americans.
"I can't get everything I want, but people have to be realistic in politics,'' Burgan told the Globe. "There is great difference between Kerry and Bush policies. Kerry wants to dismantle the Ashcroft Justice Department."
Boycott all businesses owned by Muslims.
I really could care less about who the Arabs want to vote for. Most of them just want this country to be an extreme Islamic State. They better remember American's fight back!
"Jewish Americans shift to Bush."
" 54 percent now support Kerry ... "
It would be interesting to poll Arab Americans in more detail. For instance, of the Arab Americans who have publicly spoken out against terrorism, how many support Kerry? My guess is very, very few.
And we are supposed to believe the results of the Zogby polls???
I guess they hate seeing their fellow Arab brothers free from a brutal and oppressive regime. How's that for brotherhood?
Clear as mud, just like a Zogpee poll.
I suppose they don't know that Kerry's paternal grandparents were ethnic Austrian Jewish? Well, why should they know? The grandfather did a name change as if he were ashamed of his ancestry and JFK(erry) is Boston-born and supposedly a Catholic.
Where'd they find a large enough sample? Note there aren't any margins of error given.
Zogby Alert=Barf Alert
Zogb is hitting the sauce again.....BUT Americans will not take kindly to ARABS supportin gerry!! So BUMP this PUPPY!!
If Kerry wins because of the "Arab bloc vote" - we should go to war.....pronto, before he takes office.
Who gives a shite what the Muslimes think? I have come to believe that the vast majority of (so called) Muslime Americans are of a traitorous bent and not to be trusted.
I do not give a damn if they are foreign or native born, Muslimes are dangerous to our welfare and will betray America at every opportunity given to them.
Why? Because Zogby and France demanded it.
France issued an ultimatum of a choice of France or Israel.
Zogby must have thought he was with his 72 virgins.
No wonder Jewish cemeteries are destroyed all over France.
It is their Vichy way.
In Herrlisheim, eastern France, Nazi signs reading 'Jews out' and swastikas are painted at the entrance of a Jewish cemetery.
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