Muslim voters in Michigan understand what’s at stake, says local leaderpublished at 22:16 Greenwich Mean Time 1 November
Brajesh Upadhyay
BBC News, Washington
Image source, Getty ImagesHamtramck, an enclave of Detroit, is the first city in the United States with a fully Muslim city council
Many believe Muslim votes could be the difference between
the winner and loser in the battleground state of Michigan.
Kamala Harris has struggled to win the wholehearted support of
these traditionally Democratic voters, who are angry with the Biden
administration’s position on the war in Gaza. Donald Trump has tried
to win over these voters by making a trip to Dearborn, Michigan – a city with an Arab-American majority.
This may add to Harris’s challenge in a dead-heat race, but
a few Muslim leaders working on the ground for Democrats in Michigan also warn that it would be a mistake to treat the entire community as a monolith.
Mohammad Hassan, an elected member of the fully Muslim city
council in Hamtramck, estimates that 80% of the 25,000-strong Bangladeshi Muslim
community is voting for Harris while the remaining 20% could go for Trump.
“But Yemeni Muslims in the same city may go 50-50 between
Trump and Harris,” says Hassan, who has been active in door-knocking operations in
the state for nearly two decades.
He says the anger within the Arab-Muslim community over the
Gaza war is real but, unlike the Bangladeshi community, they do not turn up to
vote in big numbers.
There are also some voters within the Arab community who regard Harris as the candidate with the “temperament to
find a solution” in the conflict, according to another Muslim leader.
“They are not naïve people. They understand what’s at stake,” says Anam Miah, a former council member.
Trump called people of Yemen origin people of “terrorist
background” during a speech in Pennsylvania, he says.
“So when he tries to get their endorsement in Michigan, he
is basically saying – I like you but your people are terrorists,” says Miah.