Jan

31

How American Muslims Are Voting

January 31, 2008 |

vote_1.jpg Today the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) released the results of a survey on American Muslims and the 2008 presidential elections. The findings are positive and very encouraging, indicating that a majority of American Muslims are actively participating in the electoral process. Here are some highlights:

87% of those surveyed said they vote regularly
64% said they “definitely will” vote in the 2008 primary, and 15% said they “probably will”
49% consider themselves Democrats, 36% independents, and 8% Republicans

45% are undecided about their preferred candidate
Of those who are decided:
24% intend to vote for Hillary Clinton
20% intend to vote for Barack Obama
2% intend to vote for Ron Paul
An aggregate total of 2% mentioned McCain, Huckabee, or Guiliani as a possibility

Asked about the issues that will have the most influence on their decision:
89% said education is very important, followed by civil rights (86%), health care policy (85%), jobs and the economy (85%), and relations with the Muslim world (85%).

The margin of error in this survey is 3% indicating that the numbers above between Clinton and Obama are almost the same. This survey was conducted between November 9 and December 3, 2007 and I expect that, just like the rest of the American public, views on candidates have changed since then. It’s very interesting to note the almost negligible support for Republicans by American Muslims, which is in no small part due to misgivings shared by the rest of the American public on the performance of the Bush administration over the past two terms.

In general, I felt that if I had taken this survey, my answers would have been very similar to the majority seen above. If you are an American Muslim, do you feel that this survey is an accurate portrayal of your views?

Click here to view the detailed report (pdf), which includes more results on American Muslim demographics, social and religious life, integration and views on public issues.


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. SakuraPassion on February 3, 2008 2:11 pm

    That was interesting. Though I’m not a Muslim I can see how many don’t identify with Republicans.

  2. Hareega on February 11, 2008 2:22 pm

    I can’t imagine how can Arabs or Muslims still vote Republican. Most of those who still do do it because of the “gasy marriage” or abortion issues, but I think they’;ve got their priorities mixed up

  3. moi on February 12, 2008 10:25 pm

    It’s easy to see why Muslim Americans shouldn’t vote Republican, but some are attracted by the social issues on which they share conservative views with their Republican counterparts, as Hareega mentioned.

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