Articles

Opinion: American Muslims' Role in the Political Process
by Sahar Kassaimah
Muslim American Society
February 16, 2004

Faith And The City e.Letter
Volume 3 Issue 7
July 15, 2004

Although American Muslims are now a recognized and visible voter group that could make a slight difference in the 2004 presidential election, no one should claim that we are politically mature or a potentially decisive factor. American Muslims are still raw beginners as far as our involvement in U.S. politics is concerned, for we have lived an isolated and ignored existence for decades. Only now are we starting to participate constructively in the election process, recognizing that our rights must be protected and our views and causes must be supported.

The 1996 election marked the first political engagement of American Muslims. But even though it was in no sense a turning point in our political presence, "it was certainly the moment when the 'Muslim vote' first began to count in American politics."(1)

In the presidential 2000 election, our engagement became more visible and only few voices argued against participation. The community became more unified and politically mobilized. Many Islamic organizations that endorsed George W. Bush's presidential bid did their best to convince us that he would serve our interests and causes better than his Democratic opponent. This support reflected their belief at that time, that Muslims and Republicans were natural allies because they were both socially conservative.

In the 2000 presidential race, some American Muslim organizations invited both George W. Bush and Al Gore to discuss issues our community considered important. The Bush campaign responded, while Gore kept postponing any meeting. As a result, Muslim organizations counseled their members to vote for Bush, which made a significant difference in the election.

However, despite the community members' belief that Bush would better address their domestic and foreign policy concerns, the administration's behavior has shown that their belief was mistaken. And, instead of gaining political influence, our civil rights have been attacked under the guise of national security, for the USA PATRIOT Act has unfairly targeted mainly American Muslims of Arab descent.

Some experts believe that when it comes to civil liberties, Democrats would be much better than Republicans. "I hope that Muslims are not discouraged at participating in the process. My advice is to look at what the cloaked agendas are. Any of the Democrats will be much better for civil liberties than Bush; several of the Democrats offer worldviews that do not involve a "clash of civilizations," said John Sugg, senior editor of Creative Loafing, an Atlanta, Ga.-based alternative weekly newspaper.

Thus, the issue of civil rights will be a priority for Muslim voters in the 2004 presidential election. "We expect Muslim American organizations will try to get all their members involved in this upcoming presidential election, not only because of international issues, but civil rights issues as well, such as unfair profiling and the Patriot Act," said Delinda Hanley, news editor for The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs.

Republicans or Democrats
According to Nayyer Ali, "The Muslims also have not been able to decide which political party we should closely align with. We have so far supported candidates on an individual basis, but we lack institutional links to either political party." (2) While "some politicians believe that this may be acceptable in the short term...in the long run we need to have an institutional support and link with a particular party," (3) others are calling for Muslims to remain independent of all political parties and vote only for those who address their concerns.

Various analysts have reported that some Islamic institutions believed that Muslims and Republicans formed a natural alliance due to their social conservatism. They point out that in the 2000 presidential election, Bush won 44.5% of the Arab-Americans vote. However, that support had dropped to 34 percent by July 2003.

With the U.S. presidential elections now under way, Bush has lost substantial support among Arab-American voters. According a new poll conducted by Zogby International (ZI) for the Arab American Institute (AAI), out of 500 Arab-American voters surveyed nationwide, only 28% said that they would vote to reelect Bush. On the other hand, 40% would vote for any Democrat, while the remaining 32% would either vote for an independent candidate, or are still uncertain.

Foreign Policy Issues
Foreign policy issues remain the driving force of American Muslim politics. Although we are an extremely diverse community in terms of geography, ethnicity, race, culture, and sect, for our purposes there are two leading Muslim communities: the Pakistanis and the Arabs. (4) However, as each group has different foreign policy priorities, they sometimes find it hard to work together. (5) For example, Pakistanis emphasize South Asian issues, while Arabs concentrate on Middle East policy, in particular, the Arab-Israeli conflict, when choosing their candidate.

Yet, the Arab American community itself has also a diverse community in terms of religion and geography. "Arab Americans are from many countries, of many religions and many generations -- but they still largely agree on several critical questions and identify as a community. (6)

Therefore, "it will be important for Arab Americans to continue to resist efforts to divide the emerging Arab American community on the basis of country of origin or religion." (7)

According to the ZI/AAI study, the administration's Middle East policy is a major reason for Bush's loss of support among Arab-Americans. In fact, two-thirds of them stated that the administration's Middle East policy was very important in determining their vote. When asked to evaluate Bush's handling of the Middle East, only 18% expressed approval -- 78% expressed disapproval.

And according to more than 50% of the Arab-Americans surveyed in the ZI/AAI poll, the administration's civil rights and civil liberties policies are also among their top concerns. The stated reason for this is their widespread concern with the administration's behavior. Some activists believe that it is time for American Muslims to go beyond foreign policy issues when making their decision. Sherifah Rafiq, the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation national outreach coordinator, said that the various American Muslim factions need to find common ground, for "Muslims in general would need to collaborate on things that just don't concern foreign policy. Palestine or Iraq cannot just be our only cry."

As for the Democrats...
On the Democratic side, as this article was being written, Arab-American voters show strong support for former Vermont governor Howard Dean's bid to become his party's presidential candidate. In fact, 36% of them indicated their preference for Dean in the Democratic primary. Retired General Wesley Clark received 9%, followed by Sen. John Kerry (6%), Sen. Joseph Lieberman (5%), Congressman Dick Gephardt (4%), and Sen. John Edwards and Congressman Dennis Kucinich with 3% each. Given that the Democratic contest is still in its early stages, one-third of the Arab-Americans surveyed in this poll indicated that they had not yet decided which candidate to support in the primaries.

Except in the area of foreign policy, Muslims look at presidential candidates in the same way that non-Muslim Americans do. Right now, there are 1.8 million registered Muslim voters, and that number is expected to increase with a new generation of young Muslim Americans coming of voting age. Agha Saeed, the American Muslim Alliance's (AMA) national chairman, said that our community's increased political importance should be expected. because "there are 7 million Muslim Americans in the United States, and in every close race, politicians realize that they can ignore large populations of potential voters only [at] their own expense."

Unlike Muslim immigrants, Muslim Americans born in this country are far more engaged in political life. One-third of all Muslim votes come from 18-year-olds, and much of the political momentum is coming from American-born Muslims. "The immigrant generation is ambivalent and hesitant. They are not sure how to participate in the political process," said Saeed. "The American-born generation is free of those illusions and concerns, very much ready to participate in every aspect of the political life."

But according to Dimitri Pikman, "experts say even with a higher voter participation, Muslim Americans still face several hurdles before their voting block can truly begin to influence American politics. And politicians are slowly starting to take notice." (8)

Conclusion
Much can change in the next months, and elections are won with votes and campaign workers. We have not yet had much of an impact, nor have we built a national political structure. "Whether Muslim voters will influence American politics will all depend on whether the Muslim community will vote as a bloc," said assistant director of the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, Jonathan Friedlander.

Now is the time for Muslim Americans to start playing a bigger and greater role in the political process. It is time for us to have a clear vision and base in making our decisions and selecting our priorities in the run-up to the 2004 election.

Endnotes
Khalid Duran, "Muslims and the U.S. Election of '96," Middle East Quarterly (June 1997): 4-5.
Nayyer Ali, "Muslims in the American Political System," Pakistan Link, Aug. 11, 2000.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Duran, "Muslims and the U.S. Election of '96."
James J. Zogby, "How Arab Americans voted and why", Jordan Times, Dec.19, 2000
Zogby, "How Arab Americans voted and why"
Dimitri Pikman, "Muslim Voters Acquiring More Political Clout," Daily Bruin (January 2004).
Ibid.

*Zogby International contacted 500 Arab-American voters during January 9-14, 2004. The poll's margin of error is +- 4.5 %.

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