(The Center Square) – Some Arab- and Muslim-American leaders endorsed Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally Saturday in Novi, Michigan.
The endorsements are notable in the key swing state that is home to more than 200,000 Muslim-American voters. According to RealClearPolitics’ polling average, Trump holds the narrowest of leads over Harris in Michigan, 47.9% to 47.7%.
“We’re winning overwhelming support from the Muslim and Arab voters right here in Michigan,” Trump told the crowd.
That support from Muslim leaders includes Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib and Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, as well as Imam Belal Alzuhairi.
Saturday’s rally occurred less than 24 hours after Israel struck Iran with strategically targeted missiles the night before. The ongoing turmoil in the Middle East was among the reasons the Muslim and Arab leaders cited in their endorsement of the former president.
“We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine,” Alzuhairi said. “The bloodshed has to stop all over the world, and I think this man can make that happen.”
Alzuhairi added, “I personally believe that God saved his life twice for a reason,” referring to the two unsuccessful assassination attempts against Trump’s life.
Two recent polls indicate that many Arab- and Muslim-Americans, traditionally voting blocs for Democrats. are drifting away from Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris as the Biden-Harris administration struggles to balance U.S. support for Israel with appeasing a significant anti-Israel faction within the Democratic Party.
In one poll of 500 Arab American registered voters conducted by The Arab American Institute, Trump and Harris were nearly split, 42-41%, a drop in support from the level Democrats received in 2020, as The Center Square previously reported.
In the other conducted in late August, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a poll showing American Muslim voters supporting Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Harris equally, at 29% each, with Trump at 12%. In Michigan, the poll found that 40% of Muslim voters support Stein, 18% support Trump, and just 12% support Harris.
