Washington, USA - US Muslim voters, a majority of whom fear the "war on terror" is a war on Islam, have ditched President George W. Bush, and now lean towards rival Democrats, a poll showed.
The community also overwhelmingly doubts the
Iraq war was worthwhile and opposes the use of force to spread democracy, according to the survey published two weeks before crucial congressional elections.
"It shows the Muslim community votes should not be taken for granted," said Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which sponsored the poll.
Forty-two percent of the snapshot of 1,000 voters among a database of 400,000 American Muslims identified themselves as Democrats and 17 percent were Republicans. Some 28 percent were non-affiliated.
In 2000, Muslim Americans backed Bush over former vice president Al Gore, after the then-Texas governor campaigned against the use of secret evidence in deportation hearings.
"Muslims were more ready in the past to vote Republican, a majority of Muslims voted for Bush in 2000," said Mohamed Nimer, CAIR research director. Perceptions that Bush failed to honor promises, the war in Iraq, global anti-terror campaign and US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict eroded Bush's advantage, the survey suggests.
Fifty-five percent of respondents were afraid the 'war on terror' had become a war on Islam, 88 percent believe the Iraq war was not worth it, and 90 percent oppose spreading democracy by force.
Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed also believe the United States would improve its standing in the Muslim world by supporting a "just resolution" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the survey said.
Sixty-six percent meanwhile back working to normalize relations with US "axis of evil" foe
Iran.
The poll was published as Minnesota attorney Keith Ellison seemed poised to become the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, on a platform which included calls for a US withdrawal from Iraq.
Ellison, all but certain to grab a seat in the US House of Representatives in November 7 polls, billed himself as a moderate Muslim and courted all races and religions.
CAIR is mounting non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts across the United States in the election -- and will be active in Ellison's district, where recent Muslim immigrants from Somalia are expected to cast ballots.
Nearly three percent of American-Muslims are from Minnesota. Twenty percent of the community lives in California. New York and Illinois have nine percent each while Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, Florida and Virginia host more than six percent of US-Muslims each.
The CAIR survey showed that many of those polled celebrated American traditions along with their non-Muslim neighbors.
Eight-six percent celebrate the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday, and 64 percent occasionally fly the US flag. Eighty-two percent of those polled said terror attacks harm American Muslims.
Estimates of the number of American Muslims range from three to seven million, and include Arabs, African Americans, Iranians, and South Asians.