TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 16, 2024
The Green Party candidate strongly opposes arming Israel and has repeatedly criticized the current administration’s unconditional support of the genocide in Gaza.
The Green Party candidate for the United States presidential elections Dr. Jill Stein is making headway with Muslim American voters in three of the critical states namely, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin, a recent poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.
Stein, the only vocal candidate against the genocide in Gaza and the US’s support of Israel during the nearly one-year war, is ahead of Vice President and Democrat candidate Kamala Harris with 40 percent in Michigan, 35 percent in Arizona, and 44 percent in Wisconsin.
On issues on the national level, Muslims in the United States, who account for 2.5 million voters according to CAIR’s report, are divided between Harris and Stein, with 29.4 percent for Vice President Harris and 29.1 percent for the Green Party candidate.
Former President Trump fell behind on national issues with 11.2 percent while 16.5 percent of voters remain undecided according to the poll. Trump’s limited support amongst Muslims in the US may be attributed to his controversial pledge to reinstate the “Muslim travel ban”.
The scientific poll was conducted in the wake of the Democratic National Convention in which 2,850 Muslim voters were asked questions via Short Message Service (SMS) between August 25-27 “to assess the updated voting plans of the American Muslim community,” according to the report.
CAIR stated that based on conversations it conducted with members of the Muslim community, “the issue of Gaza is driving the political choices of many American Muslim voters.”
The poll indicated that while 8.8% of Muslim voters will abstain from voting, 90 percent of the Muslim voters “have a voting preference or are still considering which candidate to support,” indicating “a strong determination to participate in this election despite widespread discontent” over the policies of the current US administration on the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
One of the questions asked in CAIR’s recent poll was regarding “the most important Muslim-related foreign policy issues” in this election year. The top five issues were; the Israeli genocide, the China Genocide of Uyghur Muslims, discrimination against Muslims in India, the Burma Genocide of Rohingya Muslims, and the conflict in Sudan.
“Candidates running for office cannot afford to overlook the issues that matter most to Muslim Americans,” CAIR’s Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said, according to MEMO.
“Ignoring this community or taking their votes for granted could be a costly mistake, particularly in swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin, where elections are often won by narrow margins,” McCaw reportedly added.
When Muslim Americans were asked in one of the questions if they approve or disapprove of Joe Biden’s handling of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza, the vast majority (98.2 percent) said they disapprove.
CAIR’s poll emphasized the important role Muslim American voters could have in key battleground states, with Jill Stein’s anti-war stand echoing strongly in these communities.
The Green Party candidate strongly opposes arming Israel and has repeatedly criticized the current administration’s unconditional support of the genocide in Gaza.
She has also been active in pro-Palestinian protests across the US and was arrested after she attended a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
She recently wrote on her X account that: “Every vote for our campaign is a vote against genocide and endless war. Every vote helps grow the movement for climate action, reparations, good schools, healthcare, and housing as human rights.”
“Why aren’t we spending our money to uplift the people instead of massacring children?,” she also questioned in her X post.