Arab-Americans Support Kerry in Swing States

April 26, 2004

Source: Reuters

http://www.uticaod.com/archive/2004/04/17/opinion/30247.html

On April 26, 2004 Reuters reported, " Arab-Americans in four battleground U.S. states would choose Democrat John Kerry by a wide margin if the presidential election were held now, a shift from their strong support of George W. Bush in 2000, a new poll showed on Wednesday. The tracking poll, released by the Arab American Institute, looked at Arab-Americans in Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, all expected to be hard-fought contests in this year's campaign. Though there are only about 510,000 likely Arab-American voters in the states, the race could be close enough that even relatively small numbers could make a difference, John Zogby, who conducted the poll for the institute, said. 'Anything that moves hundreds or even thousands of votes in any of these battleground states overall can have a seismic impact on the election,' Zogby said. Forty-nine percent of Arab-Americans in these states would vote for Kerry, the presumed Democratic nominee, in a two-way race, while only 30 percent would pick Republican President Bush (news - web sites), and 21 percent said they would vote for someone else or were unsure, the poll found. Kerry's numbers were down 5 points from a February tracking poll of this population, while Bush stayed the same. When consumer advocate Ralph Nader (news - web sites) was added to the mix, 28 percent said they would vote for Bush, 45 percent for Kerry, 14 percent for Nader, an Arab-American."