In the face of November's presidential election, the Muslim-American electorate is witnessing a profound division, with a significant portion of its community electing to swing away from the traditional Democratic loyalty, as evidenced by a poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to the poll referenced by Middle East Eye, about 60 percent of Muslim voters show an inclination towards either Green Party candidate Jill Stein or Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, bringing to light a deep rift in the traditional voting patterns.
The CAIR survey, which polled more than 1,000 registered Muslim voters, indicates that 29 percent of respondents are planning to vote for Stein while an equal percentage favors Harris. This split in votes comes on the heels of a widespread disapproval among Muslim and Arab-American communities over the United States' support for Israel's actions in Gaza, which have widely been condemned and described as a genocide. While Muslims, who wanting a candidate equipped to establish peace and uphold human rights, found Jill Stein's outright denunciation of the conflict as genocide appealing, another portion, as per data provided by CAIR and quoted in a Texas Standard interview with Will White, director of CAIR’s Houston chapter, also see a potential for peace in Harris' calls for a ceasefire.
It's clear that the war in Gaza is a central issue affecting the political decisions of many Muslims in the United States this election season. According to the same CAIR poll highlighted by Texas Standard, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, and such statistics are unmistakably shaping voter sentiment within the Muslim-American community. Stein, recognizing this, stated to Middle East Eye, "We urge all people of conscience to resist the propaganda telling you to hold your nose and vote for genocide."
Also worth noting from the CAIR survey is 11 percent of Muslim voters are reportedly eyeing former President Donald Trump, with 4 percent considering third-party candidate Cornel West, and 16 percent remaining undecided, as reported by Middle East Eye. The fallout from the Biden administration's policies on the Middle East seems to have deeply affected Muslim-American voters, who once backed the Democratic ticket by a vast majority, as a 2020 poll by CAIR found 69 percent of them voted for Joe Biden, compared to the 26 percent who were planning to vote for Democrats after Biden's exit from the race.
Activism among voters opposing Harris and the Democrats is becoming increasingly organized. The "Abandon Harris" campaign, formerly known as "Abandon Biden," as highlighted by Middle East Eye, is one such movement motivating voters against the war in Gaza to choose alternatives to the Democratic ticket, displaying their disapproval of the Democratic campaign's position on Israel. This election season, as CAIR reiterated, marks an unusual trend in Muslim-American voting behavior, with more voters leaning towards third-party candidacy than seen in previous years.
