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"Anything
that moves hundreds or thousands of votes can have a seismic
impact on this election," said Zogby
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WASHINGTON,
April 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – 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 percent,
while the independent contender would get 14 percent of the vote.
The
poll is based on interviews with 503 Arab-American voters in the four
states and has a 4.5 percent margin of error.
The
3.5 Arab Americans have around 1.7 million votes, or around one
percent of an electorate of about 110 million U.S. voters.
But
what adds value to their votes is that they have a high turnout rate,
said Arab American Institute President James Zogby.
"Anything
that moves hundreds or thousands of votes can have a seismic impact on
this election," he was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as
saying.
Though
there are only about 510,000 likely Arab-American voters in the
states, the race could be close enough that even relatively small
numbers could make a difference, Zogby said.
In
2000, Democrat Al Gore won Michigan and Pennsylvania by just over than
200,000 votes in each state, while Bush won Ohio by 165,000 and the
two tied in Florida.
Major
Shift
The
poll results indicate a shift in the choice of Arab Americans in the
four states who supported Bush in the 2000 presidential elections.
Pollster
John Zogby - James Zogby's brother - recently returned from conducting
focus group polling in Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest
Arab-American communities in the United States.
"The
anger among Arab-Americans towards Bush is palpable," he
stressed.
Shortly
after the 9/11 attacks, which Washington blamed on Saudi dissident
Osama bin Laden, the administration introduced a number of repressive
measures through antiterrorism laws deemed by human rights groups as a
constitutional threat allowing arrests of "terror
suspects".
The
Patriot
Act, passed by Congress a few weeks after the events, grants
the FBI powers to secretly obtain a variety of information about
ordinary Americans, as a crucial weapon in the war on terrorism.
Nearly
57 percent of American Muslims polled by an Islamic organization in
2002, say they have
experienced bias
or discrimination since the attacks and 87 percent know of a
fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.
Feeling
ostracized and betrayed by these laws, Arab Americans are trying to
show they can be a mighty
political force and key player in this year's presidential
election.
Palestinian-Israeli
Conflict
James
Zogby said that 72 percent of those polled considered the Arab-Israeli
conflict "very important".
Arab
American voters do not give high marks to any of the candidates in
dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On
the divisive issue of Israel and the Palestinians, 22 percent said
they had more confidence in Kerry, 16 percent picked Bush and 48
percent said neither, Zogby said.
Bush
had triggered worldwide wrath by saying, with Israeli Premier Ariel
Sharon at his side in a press conference, that Palestinian refugees
could not return to land lost in 1948 and that Israel could retain
occupation of lands in the West Bank, in what is dubbed as a "Bushfour
Promise".
The
U.N. and the European Union immediately rebuked
the American policy shift, which completely ignored dozens of U.N.
resolutions in that regard.
"But
there is also disappointment with Kerry," said the pollster
Zogby.
Kerry
supported Bush’s statements, much of an attempt to curry favor with
the decisive votes of the influential Jewish Americans.
