Muslims Try to Get Out Vote:
American Muslims are watching in growing horror as Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz battle for the Republican presidential nomination, outdoing each other with provocative proposals that have included Muslim registries, immigration bans and fleets of police patrolling their neighborhoods.
With
round tables, summit meetings and news releases falling on deaf ears,
national advocacy groups are planning to fend off policies they consider
hostile to Muslims with a more proactive strategy: driving up the
Muslim vote.
Organizations
like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, the
Islamic Circle of North America and the U.S. Council of Muslim
Organizations are encouraging mosques to turn themselves into voter
registration centers before the November election so that Muslims can
make their voices heard at the polls. Registration drives are expected
to ramp up significantly in June, during Ramadan, when attendance at
Islamic centers peaks.
“The
fear and apprehension in the American Muslim community has never been
at this level,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR. “The
anti-Islamic tidal wave is spurring civic participation.”
Muslims
tended to lean Republican as recently as 2000, but a backlash after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, along with the Middle East policies of the
George W. Bush administration, has led to a gradual shift toward the
Democrats. A Pew Research Center survey last year found that 70 percent
of American Muslims identify with the Democratic Party, while just 11
percent consider themselves to be Republicans.
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