Over 70% Muslims voters want to vote for Hillary Clinton, only 4% favour Trump: Survey - Hindustan Times
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Over 70% Muslims voters want to vote for Hillary Clinton, only 4% favour Trump: Survey

ByPTI, New York
Oct 14, 2016 01:13 PM IST

Seven in 10 American-Muslims will vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the November presidential elections while just 4% from the community favoured Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has called for a controversial ban on Muslims entering the US.

File-This photo taken Oct. 12, 2016, shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaking at a rally at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Clinton privately said the U.S. would "ring China with missile defense" if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea's nuclear program, a potential hint at how the former secretary of state would act if elected president. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)(AP)
File-This photo taken Oct. 12, 2016, shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaking at a rally at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Clinton privately said the U.S. would "ring China with missile defense" if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea's nuclear program, a potential hint at how the former secretary of state would act if elected president. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)(AP)

With less than a month left for the November 8 general election, the survey conducted by the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) lists the proposed ban, terrorism and national security as some of the key areas of concern for them.

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The CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, on Thursday released the results of a nationwide survey, indicating a high turnout of Muslims at the polls, with 72% of those surveyed saying they will vote for the 68-year-old former secretary of state.

There are around 3.3 million American-Muslims, according to a 2016 estimate, making up about 1% of the US population. About 86% of registered Muslim voters intend to vote in this year’s presidential election, while 12% of Muslim voters are still undecided.

Read: Clinton leading Trump by seven points, says recent Fox news opinion poll

According to the independent live telephone survey of more than 800 Muslim voters, just 4% said they support the 70-year-old reality TV star.

The lack of support for Trump could be seen as a result of his direct attacks on the Muslim community. He has frequently blamed Muslims for terrorist activity, and has vowed to tighten up border control to restrict the number of immigrants belonging to the community.

The voters said among the plethora of issues being discussed during the election campaign by the candidates, the top six most important issues to American-Muslim voters are civil rights, education, jobs and the economy, protecting students from bullying and harassment, the proposed ban on Muslims entering the US, terrorism and national security.

Each of the parties was evaluated by respondents on “friendliness to Muslims.”

Read: Trump who? For Indian Americans, it’s Hillary all the way

61% of respondents said that the Democratic Party was friendly towards Muslims, as compared to 7% for the Republican Party.

In contrast, 62% of respondents said that the Republican Party was unfriendly towards Muslims, while 2% said that the Democratic Party was unfriendly.

In comparison to 2012, Muslims over the past four years have developed more favorable perceptions of the Democratic Party and less favorable perceptions of the Republican Party.

Of those surveyed, 91% said Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslim travelers entering the US is the wrong decision while only 3% call it right.

Another 85% of respondents believe that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in the US has increased in the past year, with 30% of respondents saying they have experienced discrimination or profiling in the past year.

“Our survey results indicate that presidential candidates still have time to appeal to American Muslim voters by addressing issues such as the erosion of civil rights and growing Islamophobia,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw.

Watch an interesting conversation with Indian politician & former Union Minister of State, Milind Deora. HT’s senior journalist Kumkum Chadha talks to him about his life in politics & beyond. Watch Now!
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