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IMPORTANT INSIGHT ON AMERICAN MUSLIM VOTERS

IMPORTANT INSIGHT ON AMERICAN MUSLIM VOTERS

[August 25 2020]

Today, Jetpac joined a coalition of national Muslim organizations to release results of a pre-election poll that surveyed Muslims across the US on the issues and policy priorities that matter to our communities.

Read the full results.

Watch the livestream on Facebook.

We’re proud to have been a part of this incredibly important project — together with America Indivisible, CAIR, Emgage Action, Mpower Change, MPAC, and Poligon, we collected responses from 1500 respondents across the country.

Among those 1500 respondents were members of the African American/Black, South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, Latinx, and White communities. This broad range of ethnic and racial identities confirms what we already knew — America’s Muslims are not a monolith and are, in fact, a microcosm of the country’s population.

Frequently, Muslims are seen as a single issue group when it comes to policy. The media, political parties, and advocacy groups often only focus on foreign policy when speaking about (or for) our communities.

This poll shows that we’re much more than that and what we care about most are the household issues that affect every American with Civil Rights and Healthcare at the top of the list.

Those two main issues — Civil Rights and Healthcare — are also the issues where American Muslims are most united. Other issue areas, like immigration and the economy, are split on generational lines.

Participants were able to select up to five policies they’d like to see changed and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Muslim Ban, International Humanitarian Crises, Religious Discrimination, and Medicare for All received the largest percent of responses.

One of the clearest divides across generations was in response to student loan debt, with less than 30% of respondents over 40 choosing this as a policy priority. In contrast, more than 50% of respondents under 35 chose this as one of their top five policy concerns.

This survey has given us a lot of insight into what our communities want and need at this critical point before the election. The days of American Muslims being viewed as a monolithic bloc that only cares about Foreign Policy are coming to a close, and with this valuable analysis, we’ll be able to push for what matters to our community.

Read the full analysis here.