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IslamOnline Visitors Say U.S. President Selection Dependent On Foreign Policy
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) – An overwhelming amount of visitors participating in an IslamOnline poll indicated that foreign policy matters over U.S. domestic issues would guide their decisions in choosing the next U.S. president.
Of the 204 site visitors that voted in the online survey, 78% (159) stated that U.S. foreign policy matters would guide their decision selecting the next U.S. president, compared to 22% (45) who opted for U.S. domestic issues.
Current U.S. foreign policy matters that may be of importance to IslamOnline visitors include U.S. policies in the current clashes in Palestine, economic sanctions against Iraq, seeming support of India or lack of meaningful pursuit in solving the crisis in Kashmir, declaring some Muslim countries as “rogue” states, and the pursuit of Osama bin Laden, to name a few.
On the U.S. domestic front, besides issues faced by all Americans (income taxes, social security, abortion), issues that directly concern the Muslim community include the use of secret evidence, immigration matters, racial profiling in airports, and anti-Muslim bias in the media and in general society.
The high numbers indicating that IslamOnline visitors are more concerned with foreign policy matters in making presidential selections may be explained by the fact that those participating in the poll most likely are not limited to U.S. residents.
Since IslamOnline is on the “world-wide” web, tackling affairs concerning the entire Islamic world and inviting visitors throughout the entire globe, the likelihood that non-U.S. residents participated in the poll are high.
Far from being scientific, IslamOnline polls function by polling site visitors for their opinions regardless of global location.
IslamOnline purposefully conducts its polls in this manner because it desires that all site visitors participate in IslamOnline events, allowing all site visitors the opportunity to express their views.
However, the overwhelming numbers indicating support for foreign policy matters also may not entirely be the views of non-U.S. residents.
In-person interviews conducted by IslamOnline on November 7th (Election Day) with Muslim voters outside voting locations in the U.S. indicated that both foreign policy matters and U.S. domestic issues were on their minds (see Related Link story on Muslim Political Participation…).
For U.S. Muslim voters, indications from IslamOnline interviews, results from Muslim American organizations on Muslim voting exit polls, and individual Muslim community leaders, indicate that both domestic matters and foreign policy matters were of concern to Muslim voters.
Unfortunately, no results from Muslim American or U.S. polling firms indicating what American Muslims considered dominant in their vote choice have emerged.
The likelihood that such a narrowly defined question being scientifically polled in the near future is slim.
IslamOnline would like to be proved wrong in this conclusion.
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