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WASHINGTON -- There has been a small increase in the number of Arab American voters in the four battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida who view President Bush favorably, but his Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, no longer has a majority of Arab American voters. Reflecting a national trend so far this month that shows Kerry's support slipping, polling by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute found that Kerry's support has declined from 54 percent in July to 49 percent among Arab Americans. In July, 24.5 percent of Arab American voters said they would vote...

The best thing financial consultant Johnny Khamis heard out of New York was that you don't have to agree with the party to be a Republican. It seems a lot of other Arab-American Republicans heard the same message. A new poll shows them switching from John Kerry back to Bush just since the Republican National Convention. The switch could re-elect Bush. Arab-Americans number the margin of victory in several key states. They represent 5% of the vote in Michigan, 2% in Florida, 2% in Ohio and 1.5% in Pennsylvania. In 2000, Arab-Americans backed Bush over Al Gore, 45% to 38%....

Bush Gains on Kerry for Arab-American Vote Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Sep 15 (IPS) - Despite the worsening situation in Iraq and the continued impasse between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. President George W. Bush has cut Sen. John Kerry's previously substantial lead among Arab-American voters in four key swing states, according to a new survey released here Wednesday. As recently as July, Kerry led Bush by better than a two-to-one margin -- or 54 percent to 24.5 percent -- among more than half a million Arab-American voters in Michigan, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in a two-man race. His lead has...

August 18, 2004 -- ALTHOUGH attempts at linking President George W. Bush to the Arabs have generated a veritable industry in the past two years, there is evidence that most Arabs favor his Democratic Party challenger Sen. John F. Kerry. A Zogby poll taken this month shows that in the November presidential election Kerry is likely to collect more than two-thirds of the Arab-American vote. A similar pattern is emerging in the Arab world itself. "If it were up to us, it would be 60 percent Kerry, 40 percent Bush," says Iyad Abu-Chaqra, an Arab columnist who has followed American...

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...

........Kerry has tried to limit Bush's inroads with Jewish voters by backing Israel over the Palestinian Authority, and this week said he would have still voted for the war in Iraq even if he knew at the time that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction or ties to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. And while Kerry supports amending the Patriot Act, the counterterrorism law that many Arab-Americans say has been used to infringe on their rights, he was among the majority of lawmakers who voted for it in October 2001. "It's a dilemma," said Taleb Salhab, coordinator of...

Rameen Mosref Javid did not bother voting in the 2000 elections. Back then, the 35-year-old Afghan was more interested in Far Eastern politics. He didn't consider himself a minority, and he didn't feel any persecution or fear. Then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and the American Muslim world changed. "After 9/11, we became a target," said Javid, a Flushing resident, who said he has been "selected" for random airport checks each of the nine times he has flown since the attacks. He now plans to vote for the first time - and hopes other Muslims will do the...

Some critical info to keep in mind before casting your ballot http://www.jewishworldreview.com | The Arab and Iranian press have increasingly discussed the upcoming American presidential election. Most journalists are pulling for a Kerry victory. Other commentators have said that the choice between the two is like "choosing between cholera and the plague." The Iranian press has been particularly active in monitoring the elections. The editor of the Egyptian Al-Gil newspaper, Nagi Al Shihabi, was interviewed by the Iranian Al-Alam TV on June 13, and said: "The U.S. wants to eradicate our religious and Islamic identity. Bush declared a Crusader war...

BOSTON -- Arab-American delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in their greatest numbers in years, say many in their community will vote for Sen. John Kerry because they are disillusioned with the current administration.     The Arab-American vote went overwhelmingly to George W. Bush in 2000, but unhappiness with the president's post-September 11 policies is turning those voters to Mr. Kerry, the delegates say.     "He has alienated so many of us," said Newman Abuissa, an Arab-American delegate from Iowa who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 but became so upset at the administration that he began actively campaigning for the Massachusetts...

U.S. Jews, Arabs in vote flip-flop? April 19, 2004 By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau WASHINGTON -- In the 2000 presidential election, a majority of Jewish voters pulled the Democratic lever, and a majority of Arab Americans voted Republican. In 2004, the opposite could occur. In the Nov. 2 election, which most experts expect to be close, such a seismic shift in voting patterns has political consultants for both candidates biting their nails. This year many Jewish voters are leaning toward re-electing President Bush, who just broke with 35 years of U.S. policies to endorse a plan for Israel to...

While recent opinion polls have indicated that American voters remain divided almost equally between US President Bush and his Democratic opponent John Kerry, Arab Americans appear to have few second thoughts. They are set to vote for Kerry, by about two to one. The Arab American Institute (AAI) has conducted six polls among Arab-American voters in four out of the 10 states where they are concentrated. The third of these polls revealed that 51 per cent of Arab Americans plan to vote for Kerry, 24 for Bush and 13 for Ralph Nader, the independent candidate of Arab descent. It also...

A majority of Arab Americans in four battleground states would vote for democratic candidate John Kerry if presidential elections were held Thursday, April 29, a poll unveiled. The poll, conducted by the Washington-based Arab American Institute, found that 49 percent of all Arab-American voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania - all swing states in the November election - would vote for Kerry, while 30 percent would vote for incumbent Republican President George W. Bush. However, with Ralph Nader - an American of Lebanese descent - in the mix, Kerry's support would slip to 45 percent, and Bush's to 28...

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,...

Ribhi Mustafa is a swing voter who has already swung. Four years ago, he was frustrated with the slow pace of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and he cast his ballot for George W. Bush. "I figured it would be good to have some new blood - and it turned out to be worse," said Mustafa, 28, a registered Democrat from Northeast Philadelphia who works in his family's supermarket business. This year, he said, his choice will be Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.). Mustafa's personal shift illustrates a problem for President Bush, who in 2000 condemned anti-Arab profiling...

<p>March 28, 2004 -- IF elected president, will John Kerry offer the Arabs a better deal? This is the question raised in the Arab media these days. Many different answers are given, but a consensus seems to be emerging that a Kerry presidency will lift what the Arab elite regards as its worst nightmare during the presidency of George W Bush.</p>

If elected President of the United States, will John Kerry offer the Arabs a better deal? This is the question being raised in the Arab media these days. And, despite the many different answers given, a consensus seems to be emerging that a Kerry presidency will end what the Arab élite regards as "its worst nightmare" during the presidency of George W. Bush. The Kerry debate was kicked off by the Saudi daily Al Jazeera, which published a photograph of the Massachusetts senator with Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, on its front page. The...

WASHINGTON, 17 March 2004 — 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...

<p>WASHINGTON D.C. -- Many Arab Americans who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 prefer Sen. John Kerry this year, a new poll suggests.</p> <p>But even if large numbers of Arab Americans switch party allegiance, could they be the difference in battleground states, including Michigan?</p>

Poll shows Arab Americans less keen on Bush Saturday, March 13, 2004 By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau WASHINGTON -- President Bush appears to have lost significant support among Arab Americans, according to a new poll by Zogby International, an independent polling firm. If the election were held now, John Kerry would get 54 percent of the vote among Arab Americans in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida, four key battleground states in the Nov. 2 election. Bush lags far behind at 30 percent. Other candidates would get 5 percent of the vote. Eleven percent are undecided. In 2000, Bush led...

Business February 17, 2004 Arab-Americans raise money for Bush re-election campaign Wealthy Arab-American supporters of the US invasion of Iraq are financially backing US President Bush’s re-election campaign. Elite members Arab and Muslim communities are raising $100,000 or more for the Republican leader at a time when polls suggest that Bush’s support from these communities in plummeting, said New York Times. The newspaper named Iranian-born resident of Florida Mori Hosseini as on of Bush’s top fundraisers. The chief executive of ICI Homes has raised $200,000 for the Bush campaign, saying he was inspired by the President’s “decisive” action in Iraq....