Source: CNN

Wire Service: AP

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/05/amish.vote.ap/

On August 6, 2004 the Associated Press reported that, "[The] Amish almost always side with the Republican Party when they do vote -- making them an attractive, if unlikely, voting bloc in the neck-and-neck campaign between President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry... A majority of the nation's Amish live in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio... But experts believe fewer than 10 percent of Amish ever vote, and the prospect of them turning out in great numbers in November is 'not going to happen,' [according to] Don Kraybill, a sociologist of Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College. 'These things occur gradually, over 30 to 40 years -- not quickly'... An estimated 180,000 Amish live in 28 states and Ontario... Neither presidential campaign is targeting the Amish, although Bush privately met with about 30 Amish during a July 9 campaign trip through Lancaster County. [However] earlier this year, the Bush administration relaxed federal labor laws to let Amish teenagers work near dangerous woodworking machines."