U.S. Muslims Are Leaning Democratic

October 25, 2006

Author: Bethe Dufresne

Source: The Day

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=bd05cf80-66c5-4f9f-bdb2-0dd2529b96a1

A survey released Tuesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows Muslim voters to be religiously diverse, well-integrated into American society, highly educated, politically active and gravitating toward the Democratic Party.

Forty-two percent of Muslims surveyed said they belonged to the Democratic Party, 17 percent identified themselves as Republicans, and 28 percent had no party affiliation. Just 12 percent said they thought the war in Iraq was worthwhile.

All this was good news for Democrats, although since Muslims make up only about 1 percent of the population, their impact on this fall's elections may be negligible outside of very close races.

Badr Malik of Old Lyme, head of CAIR's Connecticut chapter, found few surprises in the survey results.

In the religious diversity category, 31 percent said they attend a mosque weekly, 16 percent once or twice a month, and 27 percent seldom or never attend.