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Any sources for that please?
In the 2000 presidential election, as many as 80% of Muslim voters cast their ballots for George W. Bush. http://christianity.about.com/od/religionandthepresidency/a/muslimvote.htm
I'm not saying this is correct...but elements of Muslim society are very conservative and reject much of the liberal dogma. Palestine and Iraq have changed much of that dynamic.
"until this year, most arab americans (not quite the same as muslim americans, but mostly overlap) voted republican"
You wanted a source on that. Turns out my memory was a little off. What I was remembering was that a majority of Arab Americans voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Looking back at that, turns out I was right: Bush beat Gore by 7.5 points among these voters. But their votes for Republican vs. Democratic members of Congress were virtually tied, as were their party affiliation numbers. In 1996, Clinton beat Dole handily among these voters, so it looks like my assumption was off. Here's a source:
http://www.aaiusa.org/PDF/AAvoters.pdf
Still, Kerry beat Bush by about 2:1 among Arab Americans this year, at least in swing states (thus presumably pretty close to representative of the nation): http://www.aaiusa.org/finalpoll2004.htm
So my basic point that this election brought a major Arab American shift to the Democrats remains valid.