Muslim and Arab Americans say their support was critical to Biden’s winning Michigan in 2020. Some warn they won’t back him again over his blanket support for Israel.

Muslim and Arab Americans say their support was critical to Biden’s winning Michigan in 2020. Some warn they won’t back him again over his blanket support for Israel.

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    9 months ago

    Others have heard from constituents who are planning to vote Republican because they feel that at least Republicans were honest with them about their carte-blanche support for Israel, while they feel duped and used by Democrats.

    But Republicans have tried to make new alliances with culturally conservative Muslim voters. In the 2022 campaign, Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Tudor Dixon, embraced a push by some Muslim officials in Dearborn and other towns to remove LGBTQ-themed books from public libraries.

    Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who runs Democratic Majority for Israel, said he sees more political upside for Biden on his stance on Israel than danger, especially in a likely Biden-Trump rematch.

    “We’re in the white heat of this moment, but I think as we get closer to the election, it’s going to be clear that if you might otherwise be a Biden voter, staying home is going to be a vote for Donald Trump,” he said. “It would be strange to see people lend any support to a racist, Islamophobic candidate like Donald Trump because they differ, perhaps very strongly, on this one issue.”