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Washington- Three years ago, many Muslim Americans were surprised by a photo of the then Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and his running mate, Kamala Harris, accompanied by the Quranic verse “Indeed, with hardship there is ease,” accompanied by an English translation, topping their accounts on social media such as the X platform and Facebook.
This step came as part of Biden’s courting of Muslim voters less than two weeks before the elections held on November 3, 2020, which he won by a narrow margin against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Biden’s courtship represented a legitimate goal that was welcomed by Muslim voters due to the Trump administration’s discriminatory policies against immigrants and travelers from several Islamic countries, in addition to his adoption of the Deal of the Century, as a result of which he recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem and considered it its permanent and unified capital, and did not care about any rights of the Palestinian people.
Shocking surprise
AndSince the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, andWith the death of more than 8,000 innocent civilians and the injury of more than 30,000 others, in addition to the stifling siege of the Gaza Strip, Biden rejects Israel’s call for a ceasefire, and classifies what it is doing as part of its right to self-defense. Biden’s position came as a shocking surprise to Muslims and Arab Americans.
American Muslims compare Biden’s position, which is fully supportive of Israel, to the position of former Republican President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.
Bush visited the Great Washington Mosque only 6 days later Of the attacks that killed 3,000 Americans, American Muslim leaders said from inside and around the mosque, “We must speak out against fanaticism against Muslims in the wake of the terrorist attacks, and that the face of terrorism is not the true face of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.”
In contrast, Biden met at the White House with 5 American Muslim leaders last week without taking any pictures with them or broadcasting the event on television, similar to what happened with American Jewish leaders.
Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal, from Washington state, warned President Biden of the consequences of losing the votes of Muslim voters. In an interview with “Meet the Press” last Sunday, the representative said, “President Biden’s response to Israel’s war against Hamas may cost him the votes of American Muslims.”
challenge
Asked whether Biden’s stance on the conflict might weaken his chances in the 2024 presidential election, Jayapal responded, “I have been one of the president’s biggest supporters. I was proud to be a partner because he was brave and strong on the home front. Biden has to be just as brave.” himself on this issue so that we maintain unity within our country.”
She added, “I think he will face a challenge to explain an issue of this moral importance to the American people, who have a very different opinion from the position of the president and even the position of the majority of Congress regarding Israel and Gaza.”
The representative, who is classified as a progressive within the Democratic Party, stated that Americans support Israel’s right to defend itself and its existence, but they do not support a war crime that is replaced by another war crime, and I believe that President Biden must be careful about that.”
Al Jazeera Net spoke with a number of Arab voters who unanimously agreed not to vote in the 2024 elections for Biden, and half of them expressed their intention to vote for the Republican candidate, while the rest revealed their intention not to vote for Biden and to invalidate their votes instead of voting for the Republican candidate.
Loss of confidence
Ali Al-Gawhar, an American voter of Egyptian origin, told Al-Jazeera Net: “For myself, I decided not to vote for Biden, and I will spoil my vote, and I certainly will not vote for Trump.”
Voter Muhammad Al-Bakri stated, “We, as Arabs and Muslims, must find out how to vote in this difficult circumstance. Many of the people I know will not vote for Democrats in the coming periods.”
Another Muslim voter from Virginia confirmed, “What is certain is that Biden has lost his great popularity among Muslims and Arabs in recent weeks. It seems that we have to choose between two evil candidates.”
It is not difficult to confirm that Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections could not have been achieved without the votes of Muslim voters in several states. It is not known with certainty the number of Muslims in the United States, nor who among them has the right to vote, as American laws prohibit the collection of religious affiliation information in its official general census.
However, expert estimates indicate that the percentage of Muslims is between 1% and 2% of the total population of the United States, which numbers 335 million people, or an estimated 3.3 million and 6.6 million people, and Muslims are spread throughout all American states.
It is noteworthy that a study by the Pew Research Center estimated that only 13% of Muslims consider themselves Republicans, while 20% of them see themselves as independent, and 66% of American Muslims see themselves as Democrats.
Voices matter
According to an analysis by Emgage, an American Muslim civic group, nearly 1.1 million Muslim voters cast ballots in the 2020 elections, and they participated in large enough numbers to swing the presidential race in key battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
A recent poll conducted by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research in late September on 3,000 voters found that Biden and Trump were close at 50% each in 3 states that Biden won in 2020: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. From here, Biden will face a more difficult election than was the case in 2020.
Biden had won the state of Wisconsin by a difference of 0.63%, or 21,000 votes, the state of Georgia, by a difference of 0.24%, or 12,000 votes, the state of Pennsylvania, by a difference of 1.16%, or 80,000 votes, and the state of Arizona, by a difference of 0.31%, or 10,000 votes.
According to the same analysis, 71% of registered Muslim voters in the United States went to the polls, a percentage that is 4 points higher than the level of turnout at the national level.
According to the study, more than 61,000 Muslim voters voted in the state of Georgia, and more than 125,000 Muslim voters voted in the state of Pennsylvania.
It is expected that the 2024 elections will be close regardless of the identity of the candidates, and if Biden is unable to respond to the concerns of Muslim voters, the Republican Party candidate – most likely Trump – will have a greater chance of winning the White House.
