American Muslim leaders from 6 states have pledged to mobilize their communities against the re-election of President Joe Biden because of his support for Israel's war on Gaza, and have not yet settled on an alternative presidential candidate in 2024, TVP World reported. .
Those states are among a handful that allowed Biden to win the election in 2020. Opposition from their sizable Muslim and Arab-American communities could complicate the president's path to victory in the Electoral College next year.
"We don't have just two options. We have many options," said Jaylani Hussain, director of the Minnesota branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (COAIR), at a Michigan news conference when asked about the alternatives for Biden.
"We don't support Trump," he said, adding that the Muslim community will decide how to listen to the other candidates.
The so-called #AbandonBiden campaign began when Muslim Americans of Minnesota asked Biden to call for a ceasefire by October 31, and the campaign has spread to Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.
U.S. and Israeli officials pushed back on a permanent ceasefire, with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris echoing Biden's words that Israel has a right to defend itself.
A recent poll showed that support for Biden among Arab Americans has fallen from a comfortable majority in 2020 to 17%.
That could prove decisive in a state like Michigan, where Biden won by 2.8 percent and Arab Americans made up 5 percent of the vote.
"In Wisconsin, a state where Biden won by about 20,000 votes, there are about 25,000 Muslim voters," said Tarek Amin, a physician representing the state's Muslim community. "We will change the vote, we will change it," he declared.
Muslim voter turnout in the US is generally high. In the 2020 US election, 71% of registered voters voted, which was higher than the national average.
American Muslim civic organizations, such as Emgage, actively mobilize the Muslim vote. Emgage's efforts, especially since 2016, show a concerted effort to engage Muslim voters on issues such as jobs, the economy, civil rights, health care and foreign policy.
It is widely reported that 69% of Muslims voted for Biden, while 17% voted for Trump. Although US Muslims do not exactly vote as a monolithic bloc, their voting patterns have shown significant change and influence in recent years, particularly in response to national political trends and issues that directly affect the Muslim community. /BGNES
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