In the run up to the White house, Muslim votes became key as the other sector is sharply divided between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In the American presidential elections also the muslim appeasement has become the key factor as like in the Indian elections. This is because Muslims votes as a block.
Muslim voters will play a larger than size role in the US elections as the race for the White House shapes into a close competition between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The competition, which was clearly in favour of Clinton, got tightened after the investigators revisited her email issue and media reports claimed that they had discovered thousands of new emails that were not reported before.
This makes the race, so tight that every vote counts, especially Muslims. There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States in 2015, which counts to about 1 percent of the country’s population, according to the Washington-based Pew Research Centre.
This has prompted Democrats and Republicans to reach out to the Muslim voters, particularly in the urban areas of the key swing states, where Muslims do have a noticeable presence.
Muslim populations near-total rejection of Donald Trump discourages the Republicans from contacting Muslims, but as the race tightened, they started contacting Muslim media outlets, including Dawn, with the messages emphasising Trump’s business contacts with the Muslim world.
The Clinton campaign is playing a video featuring Khizr Khan, the father of a slain US soldier and it had an “incredibly powerful message,” in swing states, including Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Muslim votes can make a difference.
Three in five Muslims said that they believe the Democratic Party is friendly towards them, while 37 percent said it is neutral. By contrast, less than one in 10 felt the same way about the Republican Party, though 31percent said the party was neutral.
“Muslims are a religious community and Mr Trump backs for issues that are closer to Islam,” says a Trump supporter who also addressed the Republican convention earlier this year. “Democrats spouse same-sex marriage, legalising cannabis and socialism, values that negate Islam.”
By Premji
