veiled4allah: Muslim voters shift to the left

Via email, here are the results of a recent survey of eligible Muslim voters in the U.S.:

American Muslim voters favored presidential candidates John Kerry and Ralph Nader in a survey released today by a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported that 54 percent of eligible Muslim voters said they would vote for Kerry, while 26 percent favored Nader. A sizable 14 percent of Muslim voters said they are still undecided. (Fifty-five percent of the respondents said they voted for President Bush in the 2000 election.)

According to CAIR's survey of 1161 individuals taken this month, 34 percent of respondents said the Democratic Party best represents American Muslim interests, closely followed by the Green Party at 24 percent. Almost one-quarter (22 percent) of the respondents said no party reflected their views.

On other issues, only 11 percent of respondents said they are better off now than they were four years ago. Forty-five percent said they experienced some form of anti-Muslim discrimination or bias in the past year and 87 percent felt less secure since the invasion of Iraq. However, 81 percent said they feel free to practice their faith in America.

When asked to list the most important domestic issue they will use to determine a presidential choice, almost 40 percent of respondents cited civil rights, followed by the economy at 25 percent. More than 90 percent said American policy in the Middle East is the most important international issue.

Muslims from 43 states responded to the survey, with the most responses coming from California (17 percent), Texas (8 percent), Virginia (8 percent), New York (4 percent), Florida (4 percent), Illinois (7 percent), Michigan (5 percent), Ohio (5 percent), Maryland (5 percent), and New Jersey (4 percent).

The two largest ethnic groups listed in the survey were South Asian (37 percent) and those from an Arabic-speaking background (28 percent). Thirty-five percent of respondents said they visit a mosque once a week, while a similar number go to mosques more frequently. Six percent said they do not go to a mosque at all. Almost all of the respondents said they are registered to vote or plan to vote in November.

(All figures are based on responses provided by eligible Muslim voters. Surveys were faxed and e-mailed to Muslim individuals and organizations nationwide.)

The survey doesn't give the figures for how many Muslims are planning to vote for Bush but when I do the math, I come up with 6% (compared with 55% who voted for Bush in 2000). The math also suggests that 20% of Muslims think that the Republican party best represents their interests. By contrast, 80% of Muslims plan to vote for a liberal candidate (Kerry or Nader) and 58% think that a liberal party (Democrats or Greens) best represent their interests. It appears that Muslims are still open to the Republicans, but not while Bush is leading them.

This confirms trends I've been noticing for at least the last nine months and that have probably been developing for longer than that. Civil rights and civil liberties, as the survey shows, are the most important domestic issue, far more than the economy. There is probably some bias towards this answer since the survey was done by a civil rights organization and those who choose to respond to it are probably more interested in civil rights issues than others are. But I think it also represents a general feeling that Muslims are being specifically targeted by Bush's laws and policies, and that Bush is in some way responsible for or associated with the growing anti-Muslim climate that seems to be developing here. Right after 9/11, a lot of Muslims were willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, but we have long since seen that he has only words to give us, words that aren't spoken often enough or strongly enough and that are belied or contradicted by his actions. Bush did so well in 2000 among Muslims because he spoke the right words and Democrats weren't perceived as doing so. The Muslim community is growing up and asking for substance now.

As a side note, keep in mind that Nader is Arab-American (though not Muslim), which may explain his high levels of support among the American Muslim community.