Muslim vote may shift to Demos

Across the nation, Muslims are about to send a very strong message through the ballot box to President Bush: We want change.

Although in years past most Muslims have typically voted Republican — identifying with the party's opposition to abortion and gay rights issues — this year the tide is expected to turn.

In a concerted effort, Muslim organizations in Utah and almost every other state have started voter registration drives and are encouraging Muslims to vote Democrat.

"There's a lot more awareness now, an awareness of the need to speak up and be heard," said Nadeem Tusneem, president of the Muslim Forum of Utah. Tusneem said many Muslims have grown wise to the way the political system works in the United States and are beginning to break the cultural taboo of speaking out.

"In most of their home countries they would be killed" for doing so, he said.

National Muslim organizations say about 6 million people who identify themselves as Muslims live in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau is not allowed to ask questions about an individual's religion, so there's no definite count.

Local numbers are just as difficult to come by, since area mosques say they have a difficult time keeping track of how many Muslims live in an area at any given time because there are many here on student visas who come and go.

Due to cultural influences and the fact many Muslims are immigrants, voting among Islamic communities has been fairly sparse, members of Utah's Islamic communities say.

But time has changed that. Many have become U.S. citizens, and new generations of American-born Muslims may make them a political force to be reckoned with in the future.

It's no secret that the pull of the effort originates from Bush's war on terrorism after 9/11. Instances of discrimination, hate crimes and civil rights being traded for homeland security have become top concerns for Muslims, they say.

"I think the reason why people are becoming more involved is because after 9/11 a lot of civil rights were being abused. They felt a little helpless that their civil rights were being circumvented and felt there was nothing they could do," said Rabiah Ahmed with the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit political action group.

Although Muslims and Democrats on the whole make strange bedfellows, Ahmed said feelings that Bush must be voted out of office have overcome all other issues for Muslims. "Most Muslims tend to vote Republican," she said. "A survey we took last summer showed that Muslims would most likely vote for anyone other than Bush."

Democrats have taken notice of this shift. Ahmed said her organization has been courted by several Democratic presidential candidates. Here in Utah, Democrats see Muslims as a welcome ally.

Comments