11-11-2020
Releasing the results of its 2020 Muslim Voters Presidential Election Exit Poll on, of the more than one million American Muslims participated in the 2020 US electionCAIR said that of 844 registered Muslim voter households polled, 84 per cent said they voted in the 2020 election.
Five per cent of respondents said they did not vote, while 11 percent refused to answer the question.
Of those who cast their ballots, 69 percent said they voted for Mr Biden, while 17 percent said they voted for President Donald Trump.
In a statement thanking Muslim voters for casting their ballots, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said more than one million American Muslim voters had voted in the election cycle. “Muslims vote and there is no denying the role our community plays in local, state and national politics,” CAIR Director of Government Affairs Robert S. McCaw said in a separate statement. , “Now is the time to hold the politicians we elected to office accountable to ensure that the civil and religious rights of all American are being upheld and protected," he added.
An Arab American Institute (AAI) survey before the election revealed that 59 percent of Arab Americans supported Biden while 35 percent backed Trump.
Arab Americans and Muslims have previously supported both parties, Republicans because of their support of family values and religious freedom, and the Democrats because of more liberal policies towards immigration.
In Michigan – a key battleground state that has been called for Biden – Arab and Muslim voters may have had an important role in helping him secure the election. Emgage Action, a Muslim advocacy group that endorsed Biden, estimated that about 81,000 Muslims cast early and absentee votes in Michigan, where Biden beat Trump by approximately 150,000 votes.
“Where weould the Democrats be without those 81,000 Muslims?” Nada Al-Hanooti, the executive director of Emgage’s Michigan chapter was quoted as saying in the Huffington Post. “Muslims showed up for Biden…and we’re going to expect him to show up for us come January.” In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
"CAIR congratulates President-Elect Joe Biden on his electoral victory, and for building an inclusive election campaign focused on the unity of our nation.
"President-elect Biden has pledged to end the Muslim Ban on his first day in office, include Muslims at every level of his administration and address issues of racial and religious discrimination.
"We plan to join other American Muslim leaders and organizations in ensuring that the Biden administration fulfills these promises. We also plan to continue holding our government accountable when it errs." Awad said the American Muslim community is a key resource for state and national policy-makers, and is urging Congress and President-elect Biden to enact and implement the following civil rights reforms:
* Ending bigoted and discriminatory immigration policies such as the Muslim and Africa travel bans, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, "extreme vetting programs", and the detainment of asylum seekers;
* Mandating state and local law enforcement to report use-of-force incidents to a federal database as a condition of receiving federal funding and requiring equal treatment of the American Muslim community by federal law enforcement and the criminal justice system;
* Defending Constitutional rights in schools, the workplace, and elsewhere by supporting the adoption of new policy strategies to address religious-based bullying in schools by state and federal departments of education, and protecting Middle Eastern studies courses and Palestinian student activists from the Department of Education's attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses;
* Supporting faith-based initiatives by ensuring American Muslims equal access to federal and state aid available to those impacted by COVID-19, requesting HHS provide more funding to American Muslim clinics, and providing greater capital access for faith-based communities, including American Muslims;
* Establishing equity in federal government hiring practices, including the overhaul of vetting systems that rely on biased Islamophobic resources and the promotion of Muslim-American ideas and employment;
* Ending the national security overreach by reforming the unconstitutional Terrorist Screening Database, rejecting new domestic terrorism statutes, and defunding DHS anti-radicalization initiatives biased toward the Muslim community, including the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant program, and its predecessor, the Countering Violent Extremism grant program. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. According to the Pew Research Center, there were approximately 3.45 million Muslims of all ages living in the United States in 2017, representing about 1.1% of the American population.