American Muslims overwhelmingly support Obama: Poll

Washington:  American Muslims overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama in his re-election bid, according to a new poll. Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents said they will vote to re-elect Obama, while only seven percent said they will vote for his Republican rival Mitt Romney, the poll released by Council on American-Islamic Relations. The poll, conducted by an independent research firm on behalf of the Washington-based CAIR, also indicates that 91 percent of registered Muslim voters will go to the polls on November 6. [caption id=“attachment_502297” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Barack Obama. Reuters[/caption] The random survey of 500 registered Muslim voters, conducted in the first two weeks of October, has a margin of error of five percent. The survey also indicated that 25 percent of American Muslim registered voters are still undecided about whom to vote for in this November’s presidential election. “These results indicate that a large percentage of American Muslim voters are still open to appeals from presidential candidates and that American Muslims are potentially in a position to decide this year’s election,” said CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad. According to the survey, the top five issues of importance to American Muslim voters are jobs and the economy, education, health care policy, Medicare and Social Security, and civil rights. As many as 55 percent of Muslim voters consider themselves moderate and 26 per cent liberal, while 16 percent consider themselves conservative, it said. The percentage of those who said they are closer to the Democratic Party grew from 49 percent in a similar poll taken in 2008 to 66 percent today. Affiliation with the Republican Party remained nearly the same, with a 1 percent increase from eight percent in 2008 to nine percent today. Forty nine per cent of respondents said that the Democratic Party was friendly towards Muslims, while 12 percent said that the Republican Party was friendly. Conversely, 51 percent of respondents said that the Republican Party was unfriendly towards Muslims, while six percent said the Democratic Party was unfriendly. A little over one-third (35 percent) of respondents say they have experienced religious or ethnic profiling or discrimination post-9/11. The same percentage say that they experienced kind treatment by neighbours or co-workers in that period. Half of those polled attend a mosque at least once a month. On international issues, 68 percent of respondents say the US should provide support to those fighting for freedom in Syria and 76 percent say the US and NATO made the right decision by intervening in the Libyan revolution. PTI